


You Can Find Me Where the Music Meets the Ocean

by Riley_Scott



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Beaches, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-22 11:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 64,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3726763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riley_Scott/pseuds/Riley_Scott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Felicity, Laurel and Sara are invited to join Tommy at his family's beach house for the summer. It is supposed to be a relaxing vacation but when an unexpected guest makes an appearance, long buried issues come to light and must be dealt with. There is no Arrow or Flash, this is just a world where they have even less excuses to avoid their problems.</p><p>*Updated*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You Are My Favorite What If (You Are My Best I'll Never Know)

**Author's Note:**

> I am approaching this story unlike any I have ever written. Please let me know what you think. 
> 
> I have photos that I have found inspiration from that I found online and hope to add them to the story if I can find a way.  
> http://rileyscottwrites.tumblr.com/post/116167157175/you-can-find-me-where-the-music-meets-the-ocean
> 
> I own nothing of this universe of it's characters.

You Are My Favorite What If (You Are My Best I'll Never Know)

Chapter One

May 15th – May 31st

 

May 15th 2015  
Just after 5 o'clock in the freaking morning

 

“I'm not caffeinated enough for this: A Memoir.” Felicity Smoak groaned as she rolled down the window and pulled her baseball cap lower on her head, covering her eyes from the sun that wasn't quite lighting the sky enough to really bug her. She had her feet propped up on the dashboard of the rented SUV and her flip flops were kicked off into the floorboard. 

Sara Lance rolled her eyes from the backseat and lazily slapped the headrest of the seat in front of her, not having the energy to actually aim at her best friend. “Is that the follow-up to the best selling 'These Shoes Kill My Feet, But Heal My Soul: An Autobiography'? “She asked the blonde in the front seat with a smirk. Or what could pass for a smirk this early in the morning the day after her last final.

“Or of course the hit coffee table book “How phenomenal does my ass look in this? A series of short stories'” Sara’s older sister Laurel asked as she climbed into the front seat, throwing her bags across the console to land where Felicity's feet should have been. As she turned to her less than coherent passengers she cocked an eyebrow and slipped her sunglasses on top of her head. “Listen up ladies, this little road trip idea was yours. I wanted to wait until next Monday and fly down with Tommy, but you both begged to have a week to ourselves and an old fashioned road trip. So I refuse to listen to 13 plus hours of bitching. Got it?” She didn't so much wait for an answer as she dared them to object. So Felicity eyes met Sara’s in the rear view mirror and they nodded at each other and settled back into their seats. 

Laurel nodded, starting the truck and as she pulled onto the deserted road she turned on her go to road trip play list, turning it up as loud as she could stand it. If she couldn't sleep, neither could they. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After several not so comfortable hours in the car, the ladies decided a pit stop in DC was in order. After loading up on coffee and, at Felicity's insistence a few 'road trip selfies' they were on their way again. 

Laurel was right, Sara and Felicity had both insisted on driving down to Emerald Isle right after finales instead of waiting until the first of June. When they had first been invited by Laurel's boyfriend to spend a few weeks at his family's beach house they hadn't been all that excited. But then Laurel had broken the news that she would be moving to New York come the fall and Sara had jumped at the chance to spend one last non-adult summer with her sister. 

Felicity had agreed to come at Sara’s request, because to be honest the sisters weren't the closest and things could get hostile between them from time to time. Felicity knew they shared a checkered past that had something to do with a boy, and she knew that even though they had both moved on from said boy, that they still had unresolved issues with each other. And while Felicity liked Laurel just fine, as she had spent quite a bit of time with her over the last three years, ever since her and Sara had agreed to share an off campus apartment together, she was particularly fond of Tommy, Laurels' boyfriend of 2 years. She didn't get to see him all that often, because even though he was dating her roommate/best friend's sister he still spent the majority of his time in New York, where he was attending grad school. He came down to Boston on the weekends and whenever he wasn't in bed with Laurel he would swing by Felicity and Sara’s apartment for a coffee and advice. Even though he had known Laurel his entire life, and had been a welcome guest in her bed for 2 years now, he wasn't all that confident in their relationship. He had started coming by the apartment to get Sara’s take on the situation, but considering the past the sister's shared, Sara wasn't all that comfortable spending time with him. So Felicity had taken pity on the poor guy, mainly because she was astounded that a boy like Tommy Merlyn was bummed that his relationship with a hot girl was mostly spent in bed. 

Felicity really liked Tommy, he was sweet and sincere and could turn anything into an innuendo, something that she had feared was a talent she alone possessed. She also felt bad for him, it was obvious that he had suffered a lot of loss in his life, and that he wanted so badly to escape his past. He talked to her about his father, Malcolm, who Felicity had come to learn was not only one of the richest men on the west coast, but also the most heartless. When Tommy's mother had been killed in a robbery gone wrong when Tommy was a small child, Malcolm had decided that the best way to deal with his pain was to never show anyone affection again, and that included his own son. So Tommy had grown up basically alone, and had lashed out. He partied, slept around and pretty much blocked out his entire childhood. The only person he was close to as a child and later as a teenager was his best friend, Ollie. Tommy didn't like to talk about Ollie a lot, mostly because he reminded him of all of the mistakes he had made in his life. But also because Ollie had been gone for over 5 years now. Felicity wasn't entirely sure what 'gone' meant, because whenever she asked Tommy he just got quiet. So she didn't know if that meant he was dead, or in prison or had joined a cult, but either way no one wanted to talk about it. She had even asked Sara once, and she had just got a pained look on her face and walked away. Those Starling City people liked to play things way too close to the vest for her liking. But still, she had grown really close to Tommy over the years and she felt that she knew him well enough to know that this summer wasn't just about relaxing at the beach with some friends. This was a turning point for him, and it was really flattering that he had invited her and Sara to come along. She knew that whatever he had planned it must be really important to her. She also hoped that it didn't blow up in his face. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara groaned as Felicity's turn to put on her road trip play list came around. She loved that girl like a sister, but she had the most annoying taste in music. Well, if Sara were being totally honest with herself, she liked some of it, but she prided herself on being a music snob and would never admit that she liked some of that Top 40 crap. 

She didn't care if Nick Jonas had stopped dating the entire Disney Channel line up and had spent some time in the gym, she didn't want people to know she liked his new album. 

She rolled her eyes as her 'almost a lawyer sister' and her best friend bounced around in their seats and leaned her head against the door jam, letting the wind blow in her face. It was well into the evening now and they had been in the car for over 10 hours total, minus the million pit stops they had to make for Felicity to pee after her keg of coffee. She could feel a change in the air and knew that they were getting closer to the ocean, even if they still had a few hours left. She could feel the nerves in her stomach grow tenser as they got closer to the vacation house. 

When Laurel had first asked her to join her and Tommy at the beach house she thought it was a terrible idea. But then when Laurel broke the news that she had scored an internship in a law office in NYC and would be taking the bar in New York state she had panicked. This meant, for the first time since they had started working on this whole 'sister thing' they would be living in different states. Sure, it wouldn't be the first time they lived apart. They had spent some time apart when Laurel had gone away to college before Sara, but they hadn't even been speaking then. And Laurel was always home for breaks and holidays. This was a lot more permanent. She knew this was the moment when she could either accept that her and Laurel would never be the sister's that she wanted to to be, or she could try and change their past. 

Her and Laurel had never been that close growing up. They were three years apart in age, which was just enough to make it difficult for them to relate to each other. It didn't help that Laurel had always been a Mama's girl and Sara had always related more to their Father. Sara always resented Laurel for her natural beauty and grace, and had always wanted everything she had. So when Laurel went away to college and her bad boy boyfriend had come home after being kicked out of his 4th college she saw her chance to take something from Laurel. She had always had crush on Ollie, hell every girl in town did. He was cocky and rich and not to mention beautiful. And despite the fact that he had been dating Laurel on and off since her junior year of high school, he still managed to get plenty of action. He had always looked at Sara the same way her sister had, as the annoying little tomboy that had her father wrapped around her finger. 

But then he was back home and Laurel wasn't. He was fighting with his parents constantly and always drunk or high and Sara knew that he was always looking for a way to shock people. So when she had come on to him outside of a dive bar down by the docks late one night, when he was beyond drunk and a little beat up, he had asked her to come back to his place. She had suggested his family's yacht because it was closer. They had barely even gotten their shirts off when his father had come in, furious and threatening to tell her parents. 

Sara didn't remember a lot of what happened after that. She had blocked most of it out. But what she did know was that her parents had found out, as had Laurel and everyone else for that matter. And before she could even see Ollie again, he was gone.

Her and Laurel's already fragile relationship was destroyed, her relationship with her parents right along with it. Her mother was always crying, her Dad could barely look her in the eye and Laurel stopped coming home for holidays and spent her breaks at school in Seattle.

Sara spiraled out of control and soon, during the summer after she barely graduated high school her parents split and she bottomed out. Eventually she was sent away to live with her mom is Boston, and since her mom had moved there for a teaching job she had gotten into Cambridge University pretty easily, and for free. 

She had barely spoken to Laurel since the divorce and was really shocked when her sister had decided to attend law school at Cambridge. They had slowly come back together as sisters, but they still had their hard moments. She hoped that spending this summer together, the one before Laurel became an adult would leave enough of an impression, and that they would keep repairing the damage. And despite the way she distanced herself from Tommy and his relationship with Laurel she knew that she wasn't the only one fighting to keep Laurel in their lives. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel looked over at her sister, the blonde hair that had escaped her messy bun blowing in the wind and her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses, even though the sun was sitting low in the sky and her lips curled into small smile. She looked into the rear view mirror at Felicity who was playing with her tablet, her face hidden by the brim of her baseball cap. 

They were only an hour away from their destination at this point and the wind filling the truck had turned chilly. She had done her fair share of complaining when both girls had suggested driving to the Merlyn beach house. Being in any car for more than a few hours was annoying, but being in a car with her little sister and her best friend for 13 hours was down right nightmare inducing. But it actually hadn't been that bad. They had made a few stops along the way, and as long as she let Felicity get her coffee and the occasional wi-fi hotspot and kept her sister loaded down with Twizzlers they had been pretty easy to deal with. 

When Tommy had asked her to spend the summer with him, alone in North Carolina she had laughed. They had known each other since diapers, and had been sharing a bed 3 nights a week for years, but the idea of spending weeks with him alone made her feel claustrophobic. When she realized that he was serious she felt bad, and to avoid an argument she had agreed, but only if she could invite Sara. He countered her offer by insisting that she also invite Felicity. She had ignored the tug of jealousy at that, figuring that he just wanted Sara to have someone to occupy her time. 

She knew that Tommy wasn't happy with the nature of their relationship and she also knew that he was hoping this summer together would encourage her to make more of a commitment to him once they lived in the same city. She had hoped that the simple fact that she had chosen the internship in New York over Seattle or Boston would be enough, but clearly it wasn't. 

It wasn't that she didn't care for Tommy. He had been one of her closest friends for more than 20 years and they had been through a lot together. But that was part of the problem. They knew everything about one another, and Laurel knew what type of man Tommy had been for the majority of his life. And the last time she had taken a chance on that type of man she had lost her family. 

She had avoided Tommy for years after the fiasco with Ollie and her family. She had buried herself in her studies and tried to forget her life from before. But during her first year of law school she had gone to NYU for a seminar and ran into him. It had felt like a set up and she had been on the defensive. But he had always been the most charming of their group and had convinced her to have a drink with him. And then dinner and then breakfast. She had returned to Boston and her regularly scheduled life and had hoped that their night together would just remain that, a night. But a month later he appeared, waiting in the hall after one of her classes and he just kept appearing. She finally accepted his offer to another dinner, but simply because she was worried he would flunk out of grad school if he kept flying down to Boston. 

Next thing she knew he was coming to see her every weekend. Then he started calling them a couple, which she wasn't all that sure about, considering they never left her bedroom on his weekly visits. But it made him happy, and she had enough on her plate so she went with it. 

And now here she was, on the way to spend the summer with him and he had been calling her his girlfriend for more than 2 years. She never really talked about him to anyone, so she wasn't entirely sure what she felt. She knew that he was important to her, but she also knew that letting him be important was really risky considering the type of man he was. 

Considering that when he left her bedroom for his 'morning jog' he always went right to her sister's apartment three blocks from her own. 

The first time she had followed him there, she had been sure that he was sleeping with Sara. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened to her. But then she had called Sara and she was at her Saturday morning kickboxing class. So then she thought that he was sleeping with her sister's roommate. So she had made a point of getting to know Felicity better. She had known her well enough for what she was, her little sister's college friend. But she didn't know her well enough as Tommy's side piece. It had taken her a few weeks to realize that she had been wrong, and that whatever it was that was going on with Felicity and Tommy, it wasn't sexual. Felicity was way too awkward to ever hide an elicit affair. 

The side effect of her investigation was not only that she had gotten to know Felicity better, but that she had also been reintroduced to her sister. 

She had been really surprised at her sister's relationship with Felicity. They were totally different people. They didn't even go to the same college. Felicity went to MIT, and was in her first year of grad school there, at only 19 years old. But seeing her sister with a friend, a close friend had made her see her sister in a different light. Suddenly they weren't competing anymore, and they both had their own lives. 

For the first time in a long time she felt like she had a family that worked. Her and her Father had connected during her year off from college. She had put off law school when she realized that his nightly scotch and soda had turned into something out of his control. She moved home and helped him get back on his feet. Almost as soon as she arrived back in Starling Sara had ran in the other direction, to live with their Mom in Boston. While Laurel worked on her relationship with their Dad, Sara repaired her relationship with their Mom. Sara took advantage of her Mother's pull at Cambridge and as soon as Detective Lance was back to himself, Laurel did the same. 

For the first time they were all on the same page and Laurel was terrified that the changes in her life would make it all implode. Especially if one of those changes involved Tommy. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was almost 10 when the girls finally made it to the beach house. They were all sore and tired and beyond hungry by the time they rolled themselves out of the truck. 

Felicity leaned against the hood of the SUV and let her head fall back as she stared up at the enormous house in front of her. She had known that Tommy came from money, just as she had known that Laurel and Sara had grown up in one of the richest parts of the country. But considering the Lance girls were raised by a police detective and a college professor and Tommy had been cut off from his wealth for over a year, she hadn't expected this at all. She had expected a small colorful beach house on sticks a few blocks from the ocean. 

She pulled off her baseball cap and ran a hand through her messy road trip hair and sighed. 

“How am I supposed to relax in this place?” She asked her travel companions. 

Sara walked up behind her and laid an arm on her shoulder. “Eh, you get used to it. Just don't burn anything down.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May 16th 2015

Felicity woke up to the ocean in her ears. The first day in months, or really years that she didn't have an alarm set and she was still woken up at the ass crack of dawn. She groaned, rubbing her hand over her face, pushing the mess of blonde hair out of her eyes and looked around the bright room. When she had been exploring the house last night she had chosen this room simply because it was on the other side of the house from the rooms that Sara and Laurel had picked. She knew that once Tommy arrived that the rooms around him and Laurel would be too...noisy for her liking and she also knew from experience that Sara snored. So she picked this room simply due to location, but now looking at it in the early morning light she was even more pleased with it. It had vaulted ceilings and a large wooden fan, a skylight and the wall facing the water was almost entirely windows. It was all in white and sea blue and had a built in desk beside the bed and a nice chaise lounge in the corner. This was an ideal room for her and she did a little victorious fist bump and gave herself a mental high-five as she bounced off of the bed to get ready for the day. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Sara made it downstairs it was mid morning and Felicity and her sister were already sitting at the bar in the kitchen, both with bowl sized cups of coffee in front of them. There was so much natural light in the room that no one had bothered to turn on any overhead lights. Laurel looked up at her as she entered and smiled, pointing over to the counter by the fridge at the coffee pot. 

The three of them bustled around the kitchen for the next half an hour, drinking coffee and making a light breakfast, none of them feeling the need to make idle chit chat. It was after 10 when they had finished cleaning up and agreed to head down to the beach for the day. 

They were walking down the long private walkway to the sand less than half an hour later, all three women dressed in their bathing suits and carrying towels and lotions. 

As they made it down to the sand, Felicity looked around at the overwhelming view of the water and sighed, a weight lifting off of her chest. It took her about 3 seconds to notice something odd. 

“Hey, were are the other people?” She asked, lifting her shades to rest of her head. 

Laurel laughed, and Sara smiled at her. 

“You're cute.” She said, which Felicity had come to learn was Sara’s way of telling her that she was missing something important.

“The idea that Malcolm Merlyn would buy a house on a public beach is the funniest thing I have ever heard.” Laurel said with a chuckle, dropping her sandals into the sand and laying out her towel, the wind fighting her. 

Felicity looked at the sisters as they arranged themselves on their towels and once again felt overwhelmed by the wealth she was suddenly surrounded with. 

“Wait, so does this mean I don't have to wear a top?”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity never managed to work up the courage to explore the topless prospect, but they still had a pretty great time having the beach to themselves. 

They spent the week in almost complete relaxation. Every morning they would get up and have a quiet breakfast of mostly coffee and fruit and then would get dressed for the water. Some days they would swim in the ocean, some days they would stick to the pool or the hot tub that overlooked the sand dunes. 

While they spent most of their afternoons tanning and drinking fruity drinks, they spent most of their evenings out on the town. Each evening they went into town to go shopping, or out for coffee and ice cream and the occasional movie. Before heading back to the beach house each night they would stop at the grocery store and pick up whatever they needed to prep dinner that night. Then once back at the house they would spend hours fluttering around each other in the kitchen, laughing, talking and preparing all manner of things for dinner and snacking as they cooked. 

Most nights they were full by the time they even set the table. 

They were all getting along really well, but sometimes its would get quiet and Laurel would feel a little left out of the closeness between Sara and Felicity, especially when they started in a their inside jokes. The first day they had went on this tirade about tanning. 

“I really need to tan before going to Cabo.” Felicity had started off in a casual manner. Laurel had been confused, wondering when the blonde would be going to Cabo, she had thought that she was staying with them all summer. 

Sara had just nodded and said “Yeah, I mean I know I do too. How can we go tan in Cabo, if we don't tan before hand?” She asked with a curled lip, like it was an outrageous suggestion. 

That made Laurel even more confused. She kept shooting glances at the two women as they battled back and forth about Cabo and tanning and then suddenly Felicity lost it and erupted into a fit of  
giggles. 

Finally Sara had taken pity on her sister and explained that they had spent the last three New Years Eves eating Chinese take out and watching cheesy reality tv on dvd. This past year had been Laguna Beach and apparently the main plot of one episode was tanning for a trip to tan in Cabo. 

Laurel just rolled her eyes and went to take a dip in the water as Felicity and Sara laughed at their own cleverness. 

The days passed pretty uneventfully and before they knew it they were spending their last night as an all girl house. So they all decided to have a girly movie night and slipped into their pjs right after dinner. They were all sitting in the living room, spread out on the couch, tossing popcorn at each other and laughing at the cheesy chick flicks they were watching. 

Laurel watched Sara and Felicity as they started to doze on the couch, Sara with her head in Felicity's lap and sighed. She had really been enjoying herself this week and she knew that in just a few short hours Tommy would be here and everything would change. 

She just didn't realize how much.


	2. Anything You Say Can Be Held Against You (So Only Say My Name)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy arrives with some news. Laurel doesn't take it so well.

Anything You Say Can Be Held Against You (So Only Say My Name)' 

Chapter Two 

June 1st 

9am

Tommy Merlyn stood on the back porch of his family's beach house and breathed in the ocean air, a smile on his face. He had been standing on the porch, his hands in his pockets and his mind racing for almost an hour now. He had flown in on his Dad's private plane this morning from New York and had landed at the airport just after 7 and had taken his sweet time getting to the house. He was very eager to see Laurel, it had been over two weeks since he had gotten to hold her, but he was also worried about the fall out as well. 

He was so tired. He was 26 years old and he was so fucking tired. He had it better than most, he knew but that didn't mean that he had it easy. He had been privileged enough to be born into the Merlyn family, one of the wealthiest families on the west coast and everything that came with it. The first 8 years of his life was perfect. He had great parents, an amazing best friend and everything an 8 year old could dream of. But then his Mother had been killed one night when someone had decided that her purse was worth her life. Then his Father had lost his faith in humanity and in his son. Tommy had always favored his Mother, he had her eyes and her nose. So every time Malcolm had looked at Tommy, he saw the love of his life. Tommy never saw his Father much after the funeral and spent the next decade or so doing whatever he could to get attention. 

Despite not knowing what it felt to grown up loved, Tommy had counted himself pretty lucky. That was, until he lost his best friend when he was 20 years old. It had happened in a flash, and he didn't even get a chance to say goodbye, because he had been away at college. 

He had really hit rock bottom for a while then, he had come very close to flunking out of college. 

But suddenly it occurred to him that his life would be nothing but eternal suck unless he did something about it. So he had finished his Bachelors and applied to NYU for his MBA. It was at NYU that he had run into Laurel again for the first time since before Oliver left. He had always been in love with her, but out of respect for his best friend he had never pursued anything. But now Oliver was gone, and she was a free agent. At first he just expected it to be a one time thing. But once he held her he was addicted. So over the span of a few months he used every tool in his arsenal to get her to agree to be with him. While their relationship wasn't perfect, it was better than being without her. 

For a while there Tommy was doing great and had finally started to form a plan for his future. He had always been expected to take over the family business, but he wanted to be as far away from his Father as possible. So he decided to do what he knew, clubs. He already had his business plan worked out, he would open a chain of nightclubs along the east coast, and he would use his trust fund to build it. He just needed his MBA in order to be taken seriously. 

He had kept the plan under wraps for over a year. But then, once he started shopping the idea around word got back to his Father and Malcolm had cut him off. He would continue to pay for school, and Tommy would still have access to the family homes and planes if needed, but his trust fund and bank accounts were frozen. 

It had been a really rough year for Tommy, adjusting to life without unlimited funds, but he had managed just fine. Especially once he found a paid internship. His plans were still in motion, just delayed, but he refused to cave to his Father's demands. New York was his home and his future was his own. 

He had his girl and he had his plan, and nothing could ruin that. 

When Laurel had first told him that she had decided to take the internship in New York he had been over the moon. But then she has started talking about getting a place, her own place and he had felt like she had punched him in the gut. He had let himself believe for a split second that she was choosing not just New York, but him. He had thought this was the push they needed to finally take the next step. But obviously she didn't feel the same, so instead he had devised the beach house plan. He had known when she pushed for Sara to come that she was doing it so that she would have a person on her team. So he had thrown in Felicity as his backup, knowing that she was on his side. And of course Laurel Lance was never one to back down from a fight. 

So here he was, joining in on what had up to this point been a girls getaway and he was nervous as hell. Nervous because he would have unlimited time with Laurel and also, because for the first time in five years he would bring her face to face with the man that they had both grown up with, the man that neither of them had seen since the day he left. He had neglected to mention to Laurel, or anyone for that matter, that Oliver Queen was finally returning to Starling City after being away for five years. He didn't think anyone but him and the Queen family even knew and he was hedging his bets that it would be kept quiet until next week, when the prodigal son finally returned. 

He knew the Queen family had their own reasons for keeping Oliver's return out of the papers, but Tommy had found that it suited his needs as well. Laurel was extremely smart, it was one of the things he loved about her. She was also extremely suspicious, especially when it came to Oliver, so he had chosen to keep her in the dark about Oliver's return, but he knew that starting today he couldn't hide it anymore. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel woke with a start, her hand flying to her face and she gasped. She had just had the strangest dream. 

Oliver.

She hadn't let herself even think about him in years, much less dream about him. She felt a huge pit form in her stomach as she stared at the ceiling, she was overcome with dread and she felt bile rise in her throat.

She was extremely proud of herself for making it to the bathroom before last night's dinner made a reappearance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel knew that Tommy had arrived. She felt him the second he had stepped into the house, but after the night she had and the way she had woken up this morning she dreaded seeing him. He could always read her and she didn't want to start their summer together with a fight and the subject of Oliver always started a fight.

So she took her time getting ready for the day, she took a long bath and then showered to remove all of the oils and soap. She took the time to style her hair and did her makeup, knowing that after half an hour on the beach would ruin it. She spent almost and hour sorting through her clothes to find something to wear and finally, when she knew that waiting any longer would be obvious she made her way downstairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy looked up from his skillet full of bacon as Laurel sauntered into the room. His face broke out into a huge smile and he didn't try to fight it. He never could when he saw her. 

She looked amazing, her makeup done, her hair falling in waves over her shoulder and she was wearing a long flowing sundress. He stepped away from the stove to move towards her, his arms open. He had almost made it over to her when he stopped.

Her eyes met his and he saw the storm.

Everything in him froze and he wanted to scream. They couldn't even have fucking breakfast. He sighed and let his arms fall to his sides and he simply leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. She looked at him, her eyes fluttered and her lips pursed. They both turned to the women sitting at the bar, plates full of pancakes and waiting on bacon. They both seemed to be distracted by their own conversation, but Tommy knew Felicity well enough to know that she had picked up on the signals coming from him and Laurel. 

Laurel looked into his eyes for a split second and he knew that whatever it was they needed to say would have to wait, so he returned to his cooking and let her walk away to join to other two ladies. 

“Sooo, pumpkin, Felicity and your sis tell me that the three of you have gotten the lay of the land this past week? Know the hotspots and all? How's about tonight me and you head out to one of these hot spots and the singles find a mixer of some sort?” Tommy asked, his voice upbeat as he switched the bacon from the skillet to the plate. 

He turned around to pass the plate over to the ladies and caught the look between the three of them as Laurel swallowed heavily. 

“Uh, yeah sure Tommy. I'm sure that would be fine.” She said, looking at him through her lashes. 

Felicity, always wanting to fill up an awkward silence hummed around her third slice of bacon and nodded. “Yeah, me and Sara have been wanting to stop by this dive bar we keep passing called The League. It looks pretty sketchy and I really wanna see Sara kick someones ass.” 

Tommy shot her a grateful smile and laughed. “Sounds perfect, whats say we all hit the water after breakfast? Have some fun?” He asked the group, but his eyes were on Laurel. She let out a sigh that she tried to hide with a forkful of pancake and nodded. 

“Sounds great.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four of them spent hours on the beach that afternoon. 

Laurel tried to find a way out of her funk, knowing how unreasonable she was being. It was just a dream. Just a dream about a boy that didn't exist in her world anymore and she had an amazing boy in front of her that was trying to make her happy. But even with that to comfort her, she could shake herself out of it. 

So she spent her day walking along the edge of the water, watching her sister and Felicity chase Tommy around. 

Just as the sun was starting to set the group made their way back to the house and disappeared to their respective rooms. Laurel felt the knot in her stomach expand as she and Tommy moved around the room together.

He had come up just after breakfast and unpacked his things, having their clothes and personal effects in the same drawers made her heart skip. It seemed so domestic, them getting ready for a night out side by side. His clothes hanging next to hers, his toothbrush in the same holder. 

Sara stopped by when Tommy was in the shower to let her know they were headed out and to wish Laurel good luck. Laurel hated that the vacation had started this way. Tommy had come here to spend time with her and she had let her stupid dream ruin everything. 

She sighed and sat in front of the vanity in the corner of the room, starting her make up ritual.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity had been right about The League. It was just the kind of dive bar that Sara would get into a fight in. But as luck would have it, a Monday night in early June was not exactly a happening time for the bar. So Felicity just smiled at Sara from across the pool table and the blonde racked up the balls for another round. 

They had been here for an hour so far, and they were two out of maybe fifteen people total, including the super hot bartender that kept shooting them looks. Both girls avoided the elephant in the room, they knew that something was going on with Laurel. Something that hadn't been an issue the night before, or any of the nights that they had had since leaving Boston. Something had upset her, and it most likely had something to do with Tommy, but neither one of them wanted to get involved. 

So they stayed at the bar for hours. They bounced between shooting pool, dancing in the corner by the jukebox and playing drinking games with the hot bartender. 

Felicity learned after an hour or so of playing 'I Never' with the brunette beauty that her name was Nyssa, she was 27 years old and that she had inherited the bar from her Father, Ra's. She had a very interesting accent that Felicity couldn't place and while she was always very polite to Felicity's questions, she couldn't stop her eyes from following Sara around. 

Interesting

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hotspots that Laurel had remembered from her week of exploring with the girls weren't exactly fitting for the kind of talk that Tommy had in mind. So after a very loud dinner at a burger joint and a very boring movie at the local theater, Tommy and Laurel headed back to the house. They were both still on edge, for very different reasons and as Laurel started to climb the stairs of the home Tommy grabbed her hand. 

“Hey, do you mind if we go for a walk on the beach. I think we need to talk about some things.” He asked her, his eyes not quiet meeting hers. Laurel heaved a heavy sigh and interlaced her fingers with his and nodded. 

A few minutes later found then walking along the beach. Tommy chewed on his bottom lip and Laurel wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the chill. The waves were too loud and the moon gave them almost no light to see one another but Tommy couldn't wait to find a better place to have this talk so he went for it. He held out his arm to stop Laurel from moving forward and stepped in front of her to look her in the eye.

“You know, don't you?” He asked, just jumping to the point. 

Laurel squinted at him “Know? Know what?” She asked, the question lingering in the salt air.

“About Oliver?” Tommy questioned and watched as Laurel caved in front of him.

Laurel felt like someone had sucked the air from her lungs and she struggled to breathe. No one had dared say that name in front of her in years. At first she had resented the coddling, but now she was grateful for it. That name made her feel sick to her stomach. 

“Excuse me?” She asked, her words forced out of a dry throat. 

Tommy started to feel doubt, but he knew that he didn't have the time to dance around the subject.

“You know that Oliver is coming back? That he's moving back to Starling City at the end of the Summer.” Tommy's statement was full of hesitation and a questioning tone.

Laurel didn't think this day could get worse. 

And then it did.

She tried to breathe. She tried to think, but it was all she could do to keep standing. And then suddenly that was too much. 

Tommy rushed to her side as she plopped down on the sand, her feet still in the waves. 

“Laurel, I thought you knew. You were acting so off all day. I thought you knew already. I'm sorry.” He said, his hand on her cheek. 

Laurel stared out into the water and centered her thoughts. 

“I'm okay. It's fine. I just wasn't expecting that. I was off today because I had a dream that I ran into him. That's why I was so out of it. And I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to fight. I know he's a sore subject. I was beginning to think he wouldn't ever come back. I actually let myself believe he was dead even. That's sick, right?” She asked him, her eyes finally landing on his.

They had spent two years avoiding this subject whenever they could. But they couldn't avoid it anymore.

Laurel smiled a little at him, to let him know she was okay.  
“I'm fine, Tommy. A little shocked that he would show his face after all this time. But it's okay. I mean, I'll be in New York by then, even less chance of seeing him. So it's fine. I'm just glad you told me.” She said, the tension that had been in her body all day finally releasing. She leaned to rest her head on his shoulder, where he had come to sit beside her and she felt the change in him instantly.

“Actually,“He started, and she felt his voice vibrate her cheek. “Actually, he is moving back to Starling at the end of the Summer, but he will be back in the States sooner.” He said, his tense shoulders belying his causal tone. 

Laurel lifted her head and turned to look at his moonlit profile and she knew her eyes were the size of saucers. 

“How soon?” She asked, this time her tone wasn't of a broken woman. This time her tone was that of a pissed off one.

“Next week.” Tommy said simply.

Laurel swallowed heavily. 

“And where will he be until the end of the Summer, Tommy?” She asked and her heartbeat picked up as his eyes closed.

“In the room next to Felicity.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara and Felicity giggled as they practically fell through the front door of the house. 

It was well after midnight and they had stayed out as long as possible, wanting to give Tommy and Laurel the house for awhile. But after they started seeing two of Nyssa they had decided to call it a night and called a cab back to the house.

As they stumbled through the entry way and started to make their way towards the stairs they froze. 

Those were not the happy shouting noises they expected to find upon their arrival.

“You know what I went through with him!” They heard Laurel scream and Sara gasped. 

Felicity looked at her friend, confused in her drunken state and started to question her when Sara threw her hand up, a signal to stay quiet.

“Dammit, Tommy you weren't there to see the mess he left! You were away at college, you didn't get to see the wreckage my family was in!”

“Oh.” Felicity muttered. They must be arguing about the boy.

“Laurel, it's been five years. He is my best friend. Hell, he's practically my brother. You know what he meant to me.” Tommy begged, his voice wasn't as loud, but it was closer. 

They heard a door swing open and then Laurel was even louder.

“Don't remind me, Tommy. I know exactly how close the two of you were. You want to know why I can't commit to you? Because I know what kind of man you are. What kind of man you both are. And you have just proven it to me. Congratulations.” 

The door slammed closed again and Felicity winced. She turned to Sara just in time to see her put her head down and walk slowly up the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The house was buzzing with tension for days. 

Felicity hardly saw any of the other residents. She got up every morning, made coffee for herself and a bowl of fruit and then went down to the water with a book. 

She debated leaving, but didn't have the money for a plane ticket and the rental wasn't in her name, so she decided to wait it out.

 

One thing Sara had learned after the incident with Ollie was when to make herself scarce. 

She made sure to be up and out of the house as soon as the sun rose and stayed in town until The League opened every evening. She felt awful leaving Felicity in the dark, and in the house, but she couldn't bring herself to explain the whole sordid story. 

It was day 3 in the hostile take over that was her summer vacation and Sara had found herself in her favorite dive bar once again. She was peeling the label off of her third beer of the night when Nyssa leaned across the bar and tilted her head at her. 

“Where's the other little blonde one, she never comes in anymore?” She asked, her lips curled into a small smile.

“Avoiding the hell that is my house, same as me.” Sara said, rolling the sticky paper between her fingers. 

“Hmm. Sounds mature.” Nyssa said with a chuckle.

Sara watched her as she walked away, wiping the bar down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took four days. 

Four days of sleeping in another room.

Four days of tiptoeing around each other.

Four days of Felicity and Sara never being in the house.

On Friday morning Tommy rolled over in his bed, his four day old stubble making him look kinda hoboish, to see Laurel sitting on the edge of the bed.

He is man enough to admit he jumped a little.

She smirked.

That made him even more afraid.

“Hey, there pumpkin. You got a knife in that robe somewhere?” He asked, looking her over with a keen eye.

She laughed and he didn't find that even slightly comforting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel watched Tommy as he stood in front of the shared bathroom mirror, shaving off his scruff and smiled. 

She was still angry. Actually, angry didn't even cover it. But after days of seething, she had finally come to understand why Tommy had done this.

He had always believed that their relationship was stalled because of her past with Oliver. He thought that she was holding back from him because of the love and the hate she felt for his estranged best friend. So he thought that forcing them back together would convince her to face her issues and finally accept his feelings for her.

It was cute really.

In a sick and sadistic kind of way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Friday morning and Felicity had told herself that if things weren't better by Sunday that she would either find a ride out of town, or at least another place to stay. She was laying on her stomach, facing the ocean and reading when her page was covered by a shadow. 

She glanced up, her eyes squinting in the sun and smiled when she saw Sara standing above her.

“Hey, stranger.” Felicity said, but there was no venom in her tone.

Sara smile in relief and lowered herself to sit beside the other girl. 

“Sorry about the past few days.” She started, and then looked out over the water. “Me, and Laurel have a lot of baggage when it comes to Oliver Queen.” She said and Felicity pushed herself into a sitting position and faced the ocean with her. 

As Sara filled her in, Felicity lowered her head onto her shoulder. There position eerily similar to the one that Tommy and Laurel had found themselves in a few nights before. 

They sat there for hours, Sara talking until her voice had taken on a husky quality. Finally it was almost dinner time and they decided to head inside, despite the tension they were sure to find.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you seeing what I'm seeing?” Felicity asked quietly to her best friend as they stood at the doorway to the kitchen. 

“Don't spook them.” Sara said even quieter. “They are like deer. One wrong move and they'll run out in front of the car.” She said as she moved extra slowly into the kitchen, her hands raised in front of her.

Laurel rolled her eyes as she looked at her little sister, and then turned back to the oven, pulling out their dinner. Tommy gave an exaggerated laugh that was clearly fake as he poured four glasses of red wine around the table.

Sara and Felicity shared a shrug and took their places at the table. 

They could play nice too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday night arrived, and even though the weekend had ended a lot better than the week has started, no one in the house could seem to sleep. 

They all lay in their beds, staring at the ceiling, knowing that in the morning another storm was on it's way to shake up their time together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oliver will make an appearance and we will finally learn where he has been.


	3. This is the Story of How We Met (Her Picture Was on the Back of a Pack of Cigarettes)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver Queen has been M.I.A for five years, now we find out why and Felicity gets to meet the dirtbag that hurt two of her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had originally intended all chapters to span a week, but that isn't how it's playing out once I write them. This chapter, for instance covers only a few hours technically. This may effect the number of chapters in the long run.
> 
> The response to the first two chapters was amazing and I really appreciate any feedback.
> 
> I plan on updating once a week from now on, mostly likely on Saturday nights.

This is the Story of How We Met (Her Picture Was on the Back of a Pack of Cigarettes)

Chapter Three 

June 7th, 2015 

Flying from Hong Kong to The US was only slightly less annoying on a private jet. Either way you sliced it, it was a 16 hour flight and for Oliver Queen, having 16 uninterrupted hours to think was at the bottom of his list of fun things to do. Especially since he was flying back to a place, and to people that he had started to think that he would never seen again. 

For a few years, he wasn't even sure he wanted to.

The last time he had been in the States he nearly ruined his life. 

Oliver had always been wild and out of control, and while his parents had hoped that he would eventually grow out it, he never really did. So when he fucked up beyond even them brushing it under the rug, he was sent on a 'business trip' with his father to the Hong Kong branch of the family company. Oliver thought it was just an opportunity to get out of town until things died down. As it turned out, it was his parent's opportunity to give him an ultimatum. At 20 years old Oliver was presented with the chance to either be cut off from the family fortune and left to fend for himself in a strange country, or to finish college in Hong Kong and train to take over as CEO in his Father's place. 

At first, Oliver thought this was just another scare tactic from his parents and decided to play along for a few months and then return home and back to his old tricks. But then he, and the rest of the world received word that the Queen's Gambit, the family yacht had been struck in a freak storm and everyone on board was presumed dead. 

Devastated, Oliver tried to return home for the memorial, but Moira had refused. She blamed Oliver for his father's death and told him that his only choice was to remain in Hong Kong until he could run the company. So that is what he had done. He completed his MBA, interned at QC and molded himself into the shrewd business man that Robert had always wanted him to be. 

And now, the prodigal son was returning to take over the family company and restore it to it's former glory.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver stood on the edge of the water, his hands shoved in the pockets of his slacks and stared out into the darkness. His shoes and socks were laying somewhere behind him in the sand and his jacket was draped across the back of his bike with his duffel. That was the one detail that he had any input in for his travel plans. He had insisted on having a bike waiting for him at the airport instead of a rental. He had let his Executive Assistant take care of the rest. 

He had landed in Raleigh early in the evening, but had taken his time getting to his destination. It had been five long years since he had stepped foot on American soil and he wasn't going to miss a second of his homecoming. He rode for hours familiarizing himself with his new bike and the roads along the eastern coast, and he tried his best to enjoy his first few hours back. 

It was with a heavy heart that he looked out into the ocean. He knew that as hard as the years away had been, that what was ahead of him would be even harder. Not only would he be facing his Mother again for the first time since the death of his Father, but he would be facing all of the people that he had run out on. 

He was happy to be seeing Tommy again, he had missed him these last five years, and to be honest Tommy was the one person he hadn't burned bridges with. But even so, he could probably count on one hand how many actual conversations the best friends had shared these last few years. He knew that Tommy was almost done with his MBA, had been dating Laurel Lance for two years and had been cut off from his trust fund. He had once thought of Tommy as a brother, and now he knew less about his life than Wikipedia. Oliver had accepted the offer to join Tommy at the beach house for the summer for many reasons, but the main one was so that he could see if he and Tommy stood a chance of being that close again. 

He and Tommy had bonded at a very young age over having distant business driven Fathers and charity benefit Mothers. As they grew up and suffered loses they became the stereotypical rich assholes that every one expected them to be. They went through sports cars almost as fast as they went though women and used every opportunity to piss off their families. Oliver knew even then that he and Tommy were burning out and fast, but he didn't see a way out. 

Then they had gone off to college, they both started out in Seattle. But Tommy actually started to take his classes seriously, so once Oliver realized that this wouldn't just be another place for them to party he had banged the Dean's granddaughter to get kicked out. After that his parents donated a few Library's and a computer lab or two and he had spent two years bouncing from college to college. By the time he had been bounced from the fourth school his parents have given up and he and Tommy were in two different worlds. Oliver kept trying to call Tommy, to arrange a guys weekend in Vegas, a trip to Cancun, something that made him feel like himself. But Tommy was busy with school and had left Oliver alone in the hole they had dug together. 

There had been a short period of time after his life fell apart that he had blamed Tommy. If Tommy had been a better brother, if he had been there then Oliver wouldn't have fucked up so bad. But over the years he had come to let go of the resentment he had for anyone but himself. 

He knew that Tommy had invited him to spend the summer for more than just a chance to bond. He knew that Laurel and Sara would be there as well, and as much as that idea terrified him, he knew that he not only owed it to Tommy to fix what was broken there, he also owed it to the Lance sisters.

His stomach sank at the thought of them, something he had gotten used to over the past few years. He knew that when he vanished from Starling City that it wasn't just his family that had suffered, he had left at least one other in shambles. 

The Lance family had always been a part of his life.  
No, that wasn't entirely accurate.

Laurel Lance had always been a part of his life. 

Oliver couldn't remember a time in his life when he didn't know her. And even in his darkest of moments, he never wished that he could. She had been many things to him over the 20 plus years that he had known her. And for the bulk of that he had considered her a part of him. There was even a short amount of time when he has even called her his. But that had died years ago, in the North China Sea right along with his Father. 

He found that ironic in a way, because Oliver knew that his friendship and later, relationship with Laurel had been engineered by his Father. His parents had taken one look at Laurel and even as a child they saw potential in her that they didn't see in Oliver. So they took the proper steps to ensure that she became a part of his life. She was a perfect addition to their plan for the Queen heir. 

She was from a good family, one that had enough to provide her with class, but not enough that they would pose a threat to the Queens. She was driven and well spoken and fit right into their little package. She was a flawless kind of beautiful, her hair, her makeup and her wardrobe always pristine. She read classic philosophers at 15 and visited art museums on the weekends. She drank white wine and laid a cloth napkin in her lap at dinner, and always knew how to seamlessly fit into his parents world. 

And Oliver had loved her, he really did. And if he were honest, parts of him still did. They had known each other since they were practically babies and had grown into adults together. She was comfortable and familiar and she knew him better than most. But something had always been lacking and for the bulk of their relationship he thought it was just because he couldn't be happy with one person. So like the asshole he prided himself on being, he cheated on her as often as possible. He never wanted to hurt her, and he always hated himself when she would confront him about a one night stand. But something about committing to her scared the shit out of him, and whenever he was pressed by her or his family to take their relationship to the next level he would run in the other direction. 

So when he had fucked up his life for what felt like the last time he took the out that his Father was giving him and got on the family yacht. He wasn't sure if he would have made a different choice if he had known how long it would be before he saw Laurel again. 

Oliver took one last look at the ocean, ran his hand over her face and through his hair and walked backwards from the water. 

No use in putting off the inevitable any longer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 8th, 2015 

1 am 

Talking. It was the middle of the damn night and someone was talking. 

No, not talking, whispering. 

Loudly. 

Felicity rolled over in bed and groaned. 

“Relaxing vacation my ass.” She mumbled into the pillow and slowly slid from the bed. She straightened her night shirt and pulled her hair back into the messy ponytail that it had escaped from in her sleep as she made her way to the door. She kept her footsteps lite and her body as small as she could, aware that she could be walking in on another Tommy and Laurel fight. She snuck out of her room and stopped at the top of the stairs, the landing overlooking the living room and was surprised to see Tommy talking not to Laurel, but to another man. 

They were both standing in the center of the living room, arms crossed and they were hunched over, trying to get close enough to each other to hear. 

“I just don't know that this was such a good idea, Tommy.” The blonde man stage whispered to the other man, his face shielded from her view. 

“Ollie, man it's gonna happen sometime. Would you rather run into her six months from now when she's with her Dad? You need to fix this mess now.” Tommy insisted. 

Ollie. So, this was the friend that caused so much drama in the lives of the people she loved the most. Huh. Felicity looked at him in new interest and found him to be kind of lacking. 

“But, Tommy, it's not just us. You also have some stranger staying here. That can't go well.” The newcomer said, not even trying to whisper anymore. “You think it's a good idea to bring some random into our family drama?” This time the blonde man was facing the landing and his eyes drifted to the shadowed area that Felicity had huddled in. 

Felicity gasped, at the mention of her and she flushed, jumping back. She felt embarrassed and rushed back to her room, clicking the door shut behind her. 

“Frack.” She muttered to herself as she jumped back into bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning the house was back to the tense quiet that had engulfed in the week before. Not wanting to be brought in on this week's drama, Felicity was out of bed and dressed for a day on the beach by 7. She peeked at the room to the left of hers, wondering what time the infamous 'Ollie' would emerge and was surprised to see that his door was open and his room was empty.

“Probably drunk in a dumpster somewhere.” Felicity mumbled to herself as she trotted down the stairs and out the deck door, beach bag in hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sounds of heavy breathing pulled Felicity from her intense concentration and she lowered the pages in front of her down, and peeked over the top of her sunglasses at the newest guest to casa'da drama. 'Ollie' was jogging her way, shirt off and headphones in. She prided herself on being woman enough to admit when she was wrong. And in the not so harsh light of day, this Ollie guy was actually pretty incredible looking. The fuss was suddenly making since. 

But just because he was pretty enough to justify squabbling sisters, it didn't mean she would be another girl to swoon over him. Nope. Not at all. Not gonna happen. 

Suddenly he was not just jogging in her direction, but he was jogging directly towards her and Felicity felt a moment of panic. She quickly popped her crossword back up in front of her face and tried to look like she was concentrating. She was sure it just came off as constipated. 

Before she knew it, he was standing over her, blocking the sun and casting a rather well muscled shadow over her lap. 

“Hello.” The well built shadow maker said and Felicity groaned internally. She looked up at him and faltered a little when he smiled. 

Ugh. Of course his voice sounded better when he wasn't whispering or calling her random.

She opened her mouth to speak and was distracted when her trusty red crossword puzzle pen flopped out of her mouth and onto her lap. 

Smooth, Smoak. 

 

“Um, Hi.” Super smooth. 

 

“I'm Oliver.” He said politely. He was talking to her like they were in a business meeting. Here she was in a bikini that had ruffles for godsakes, and filling out a crossword puzzle with a pen in her mouth and he was talking to her like they were co-workers. Awesome. 

 

“Queen, yeah I know. Mr. Queen.” Mr. Queen. Did she really just call the hot jogging, drama inducing guy, Mister?

 

“Ugh, nah, Mr. Queen is my father.” Oliver said, playing off her stupidity and he took this opportunity to squat down beside her chair and take a rest from his workout. So now they were face to face and that didn't help Felicity to not be a spazz. 

“Well, yeah, but he's dead.” WHAT?! 

“I mean, he drowned. Which you did not.” Not any better. 

“Obviously, or else you wouldn't be here to hear me babble, which is something I am going to stop doing in 3.2.1.” Oh God. 

Felicity watched the play of emotions cross Oliver's face and sighed. She put her hand on her forehead and looked at him sideways. 

“Sorry, about that, I tend to babble a lot, and it has nothing to do with the fact that your shirtless, well that doesn't really help.” She said and then paused and Oliver started to smirk. Frak.

“I mean not that I noticed or anything. I mean, of course I noticed, I'd have to be blind to not notice.” Abort mission, abort mission. 

"Oh, God. I'm not like crushing on your abs or anything” Felicity was quick to assure him, her hand now flying from her forehead to his bicep, which she grabbed in what she intended to be a reassuring way, but ended up just being creepy. She pulled her hand away like his skin burnt her. 

“I mean there are a lot of them to be crushing on, but I'm not.” She insisted, and she looked at him and was relieved to see that he was just smiling and not calling the cops or the men in white coats. 

She took a deep breath and smiled halfheartedly and held out her hand. “ What I meant to say like 8 sentence fragments ago is, Hi, I'm Felicity Smoak and it's nice to meet you. You're Tommy's friend?” 

Oliver sat there with a smile on his face, all teeth and cheeks for a good ten seconds before he seemed to catch up and he grabbed her hand for the offered handshake. 

“It's nice to meet you Felicity.” He said, his words wrapped around a chuckle. “Tommy told me you tend to do that when meeting new people.” He informed her and he then cleared a spot on her towel for him to sit, beside her chair. 

“He did? When?” She asked, surprised.

“Oh, about ten minutes after you ran away when I caught you eavesdropping on us last night.” He said in a casual way, his face turned to the water.

Felicity groaned out load and her head landed heavily against the headrest of her chair. 

“In my defense, you guys are terrible at whispering. You woke me up.” She complained with a pout and Oliver laughed.

“Yeah, we were never good at the quiet thing. Not in our DNA. But, I just wanted to let you know that I really don't have an issue with you being here. These are your friends too, and I'm sorry if I made it seem like I don't think you belong. I thought that I had dropped Ollie in the last five years but I guess being around Tommy brings him out a little. And just to verify, as I'm sure you've heard, Ollie is an asshat.” Oliver finished with a self deprecating smirk and shrug. 

Felicity squinted at him behind her sunglasses and turned her body towards him in her chair. “Okay, well the asshat thing I can handle, but the talking about yourself in third person, isn't gonna cut it, Ollie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews and kudos fuel my fires.


	4. You're Just the Girl All the Boys Wanna Dance With (And I'm Just the Boy Losing Too Many chances)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's sometimes hard to figure out who to avoid and who to lay in bed talking all night with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is late. I know, I'm a terrible person, but I have had this mostly written for over a week now and I'm still not totally happy with it. It is mostly a filler chapter. This chapter takes place over a week or so and bounces between June 9th -June 18th depending the persons perspective. This will be the only chapter that doesn't follow a pretty strict timeline that I have set up. 
> 
>  
> 
> Next update will have a big confrontation and once couple will have their first time. I still plan on posting that one on Saturday as it's mostly written.
> 
> *** The response to this chapter has been so amazing. This is the most well received update I have ever had and you all are great. Kudos and comments really do make all the hours I sit in front of my computer talking to myself and listening to the same songs over and over worth it. Thank you all so much, and please keep it coming. I love to hear what you all are thinking.

Felicity had thought that avoiding three other people for a week had been awkward. They lived in the same house, the house that was on a private beach, in a small beach side town that was hundreds of miles away from home. It was awkward as hell to avoid each other and spend days without talking to another person. Super awkward. But not nearly as awkward as ignoring certain people at certain times of the day. 

Well, awkward and really complicated. 

Now that Oliver had arrived it was like high school and the house had turned into a game of cat and mouse. 

Laurel and Oliver did everything legal to avoid being in the same room as each other.

Sara did everything she could to corner Oliver in a room.

Oliver did everything he could to not get cornered. 

Tommy did everything he could to get Oliver, Sara and Laurel together. 

Felicity did everything she could to stay the hell out of the way. 

Which wasn't all that easy because it seemed the only person Oliver Queen did want to be in a room with was her. 

It was pretty exhausting. 

After a few days they had all worked out a routine. In the mornings Oliver would leave the house before the sun rose and go for his standard 10 mile run along the beach and he would always end it by interrupting Felicity's crossword puzzle. 

“Dude, you're getting your sweat all over my towel. Gross.” Felicity would tease him when he would come and sit with her, swatting at his shoulder and then wiping her now damp palm on the towel in question. Oliver became accustomed to her teasing after the first few days. He would lay out on the towel beside her and they would chat back and forth for about an hour. Nothing heavy, and nothing that she deemed too personal. 

Then inevitably the rest of the house would start to stir and so Felicity would head inside for breakfast with Tommy and the girls and Oliver would go for a swim on his own. After breakfast Felicity, Sara and Laurel would get dressed and head into town for shopping or a movie and stay past lunch. Tommy and Oliver would do some manly bonding things that none of the girls ever asked about and would make themselves scarce until dinner time. Then Tommy would show back up with whatever he wanted to grill that night and the girls would work on the sides and salad. It was like the first week of vacation again in some ways. They would all have a blast making dinner, laughing, dancing and singing with more than a little wine. Then the group, minus Oliver of course, would sit down for a playful and relaxing dinner while Oliver would take his bike out for a ride. He always made sure to stay gone for hours. 

Felicity was amazed that they all acted as though this routine was normal, that having the house separate into two for hours on end and to leave someone out from all group activities wasn't strange. 

Laurel seemed at peace with it, and let herself relax. 

Sara seemed a little on edge, always looking for Oliver to appear and Tommy just seemed like Tommy always seemed to Felicity, a little sad. 

It was all a depressing the hell out her. 

She was having fun with her friends, and she was glad that Tommy and Laurel had managed to stop fighting, but she knew that everyone around her was one step away from imploding. 

Awkward. 

The nights were usually her favorite part of the day. The day long struggle to keep the right people apart seemed to fall by the wayside and everyone just drifted apart naturally. Tommy and Laurel would usually go out to the water together for a walk, or out to the hot tub. They would be together for hours with their heads touching, their hands entangled. 

Sara would head out to The League. Felicity had her own ideas about why Sara liked it there so much, but Sara swore it was because she liked hustling the other tourists at pool. But she always came back to the house hours after the bar was closed and she never came home any richer than when she left. 

Felicity would just go to her room, sit on the balcony for a few hours and read with a glass or two or three of wine. By the time the ocean breeze became too chilly for her and she was ready to head into bed she would hear Oliver making his way up the stairs. Since his room was right next to hers, he would always pass by her open door on his way past and would throw her a little wave. 

It took three nights of him walking by for him to finally ask to come in. 

At first Felicity thought it was a little odd. Yes, they had gotten to know each other well enough for having mutual friends, but not enough for bedroom talks. But Felicity had gone for that third glass of wine, and she had left the balcony doors opened and the roar of the waves seemed to drown out all of her inner voices. 

So when he stood in her doorway that night, still in that damn brown leather jacket she couldn't think of any other response than “Sure.” when his nightly wave was accompanied by “Do you mind if I sit with you for a while?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity wasn't the only one that spend the week feeling like she was back in high school.

For Sara it was ten time worse. 

Sara was literally living high school all over again in the most vivid flashbacks. She was trapped in a house with her (perfect) older sister who had her life together, and a (perfect) (rich) boyfriend to boot. Two weeks ago it hadn't really bothered her. She loved Laurel, and she thought that she had gotten over her petty jealousy’s when it came to her older sister. But after spending all week trying to get Oliver Queen's attention, Sara reverted back to 16 and wanted to cut bangs and listen to Coldplay until she puked. 

She faked it pretty good during the day. She gossiped with Felicity and Laurel. She got coffee, she shopped, laughed in the right places in the movie. She danced around the kitchen with her best friend and picked food off of her sisters plate at dinner. 

But once everyone else found other things to occupy themselves with at night she would go to the only place that she could to get away from the stench of her own self pity. She had really grown to like The League over the past few weeks, and this week it she seemed to spend more time there than anywhere else. She always told everyone that she went every night to shoot pool, and that had originally been her plan. But the first night there all of the tables had been filled with frat guys and so she had just settled in at the bar. Since the summer was finally starting to pick up Nyssa was just one of three bartenders on staff at night, so she had been free enough to stand and talk with Sara for awhile. 

Sara brushed it off at first, maybe she was expecting a big tip? Maybe it was just that southern charm that she had heard so much about? Maybe she was just bored with frat guys? Sara kept waiting for Nyssa to get bored, for their casual chit chat about the weather and college to wear thin. But suddenly it was time for the bar to close and Sara realized that she had been nursing the same beer for over an hour. Sara had felt flustered, a very unfamiliar feeling for her, and had tried to pay her tab with a very big tip to cover for occupying Nyssa's time. But Nyssa had smiled and grabbed Sara’s hand, pushing her money back to her and simply said “It's on the house.”

That made Sara feel even more flustered and she babbled something about getting back home. She had a fleeting thought that she now knew how Felicity must feel all the time. 

The next night, Sara wasn't entirely sure why she felt the need to shower and change before heading to the bar. But when she got there and saw Nyssa smile and wave at her from the end of the bar she was very happy that she had decided to make an effort. Nyssa was stunning, even after wiping down bars and mixing drinks all night, and Sara convinced herself that she would just feel inferior to the other woman if she came in smelling like salt water from her day on the beach and garlic from dinner that night. 

Their little routine continued each night. Sara would come in sit at the end of the bar on the same stool and despite the flow of business Nyssa would always stick with her most of the night. By the third night Sara found herself not wanting to go back to the house once the bar had closed. So she would hangout, wait for Nyssa to finish closing up and then she would walk her home. 

Transitioning from casual bar chatting to long walks in the dark wasn't as awkward as Sara thought it would be. It was easier to talk about things deeper than viral videos and annoying class projects when they were away from the smell of stale beer and jukebox repeats. On their walks, Sara learned that Nyssa was from a small country in Western Asia but had lived in the states since she was 13 and had graduated from art school in Florida. She had always dreamed of being a professional photographer and moving to Miami, but her Dad had gotten sick during her senior year of college. So Nyssa had moved home after she graduated to help him at the bar and to make sure that he was being taken care of. But he has always been a stubborn man and had fought her at every turn. He disapproved of Nyssa's dream of being an artist and of the fact that she was a lesbian. 

Sara had paused when Nyssa revealed that to her. She had searched her mind, wondering why she wasn't surprised that Nyssa was gay. She was also taken aback out how casually Nyssa had mentioned it. She had never really met anyone that was so open before. She didn't have any problems with Nyssa's sexuality, but she knew that in the world she had grown up in that it wasn't something that was talked about. But when Nyssa continued her story without stopping, Sara rushed to catch up and let the curious feelings running through her fade to the back of her mind. 

Apparently, while Nyssa was working at the bar and taking care of her Father he had met with a lawyer and set up a will. Nyssa didn't learn of the terms until after he died. He had left the bar, his home and everything he owned to a someone he had served in the military with. Nyssa referred to him as her Uncle Maseo, even though Maseo was only a decade her senior. Luckily, Maseo didn't have the same views as Nyssa's father and he had happily signed everything over to her. Nyssa had been so devastated over her Father's death and his betrayal at first that she considered just selling everything and moving on with her life. But the small part of her that had always dreamt of being something her Father could be proud of wouldn't let her. So she had stayed and had been running the bar ever since. Her passion for photography hadn't died, and she always managed to balance her two loves. 

Sara had never admired another person so much in her life. She and her family had gone through horrible times, but nothing like what Nyssa had experienced with her Dad. The very idea that she had endured his hatred simply for her being herself shook Sara to her core and she felt a knot in her stomach for days after that conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All in all this week had gone a lot better that Laurel could have anticipated. She had expected that Oliver would force contact. That he would insist on talking to her. That was his normal m.o anyhow. When they had been together, whenever he had screwed up or screwed someone he always hounded her until she forgave him. He would call, text, email, telegram, anything to get her to pay attention to his sad cry face. So after the first couple of days, when he didn't press the issue she let her guard down a little. 

Oh, she knew that Tommy was working extra hard to try and force a talk between her, Sara and Oliver, but by this point Laurel knew that between her stubbornness and Oliver's cowardice that it wouldn't happen until she was ready. And having just that small amount of power made her feel better. So she let go and decided to enjoy her vacation with her boyfriend, sister and friend. They had all worked out a little routine. It was fragile yes, and wouldn't last beyond the week she was sure, but it was working for now and that was good enough. 

She sighed happily and snuggled up to Tommy's side as they walked along the water. They had spent another great day together, walking on the eggshells full of drama and had avoided letting any of them crack. Now they were spending another quite and romantic night on the beach, walking hand in hand and she felt safe wrapped up in his jacket. 

Laurel had to admit it was a little strange spending this much time with him. Even more so, spending this much time with him while fully dressed. They had been together for years now, but this was the first time they spent any actual couple time together and she didn't hate it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy knew that he shouldn't really complain. 

He was getting to spend the entire summer with his girl and his best friend. And that was more than he would have thought possible six months ago. But he still wasn't satisfied. He spent his days with Oliver, and his mornings and nights with Laurel. It should feel like old times but it just didn't. 

He tried to enjoy his time getting to know Oliver again, but he knew that his friend was holding himself back. He seemed to be playing a role and it was really starting to grate on Tommy.

He just needed to figure out what it would take to get everyone on the same page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver had made a huge mistake by coming on this vacation. 

The days of avoiding Laurel and running from Sara wasn't really an issue. He had always been good at dodging responsibility when it was necessary. He was totally fine with spending his mornings and evenings alone and his days with Tommy avoiding awkward conversation. 

That wasn't why he was regretting this trip.

No, he was regretting this trip because of one Felicity Meghan Smoak. Yeah, he knew her middle name now. Middle names weren't supposed to be a part of the deal. He had been through entire affairs with women and didn't even know their last name for godsakes, let alone their middle. 

It was fine at first, the first couple of days he would just hang out with her after his run and they would banter back and forth a little and she would babble about his abs, it was harmless. But mid way through the week the empty nights had started to get to him. He would ride along the ocean highway for hours on his bike and then come back to the house and just lay in bed staring at the ceiling trying to avoid thoughts. 

So one night, for some unknown reason he had decided to not just wave at her as he walked past her room. He tried to justify it by thinking that if she babbled enough he would be too exhausted to stare at the ceiling. 

There wasn't really anything too exciting about their nights in her room. The first night she had been sort of quiet. She seemed a little confused about why he was there and honestly he had been too. But once it became a habit, his little trips to her room and their mornings on the beach the talks changed. Before, when it was new she would just lightheartedly complain about him breathing to loud after his run or about him putting his boots on her bed. But as they got more comfortable she got a little curious. She told him the day they met that he was a mystery and apparently she hated mystery’s. 

"How did you go from a four time drop out to an MBA in four years?" She asked him one night late in her room. She was sitting on her mound of pillows at the top of her bed, her head propped up on her knee as she painted her toenails. 

He had grown accustomed to her bluntness and didn't even flinch at the 'four time drop out' comment. He smiled softly looking at her. He had been leaning against the door to the balcony looking out at the ocean. He turned around and shrugged, his hands in his pockets. 

"I was never an idiot.” He started and threw her a dirty look when she snorted. She threw her hands up in a defensive pose. “Being stupid wasn't my problem. It was all in my head, I was just too lazy. I knew I didn't actually have to put in the work because my parents would take care of it. In fact they spent so much time paying off my teachers in high school and my professors during college that they never actually noticed that I'm kinda smart.” Now sitting on the edge of the bed, his usual spot, he shot her look, waiting for her to make some smart ass remark about him being smart. But she kept her eyes on her feet and made a 'mmmm' noise so he continued. 

“I guess I just never had the motivation to turn anything in or do any of the work, I knew it would get taken care of, so I chose to spend my time on...extra curricular activities." He finished with a smirk, expecting a rise out of her. He wasn't disappointed. 

“Yeah, I know. I've meet two of those, 'extra curricular' activities. Not your best work to be honest.” She quipped, her eye brow cocked and the switched to the other foot. He laughed and then they were quiet for a moment. She looked to be concentrating really hard on her task but then she huffed loudly and seemed to come to a decision. “Look, I don't know you that well. I don't know your family at all. But I'm gonna say something and if it's out of line lets just pretend that I painted my toes and we talked about Netflix, ok?” She asked him, and for one crazy second Oliver thought she was beautiful. She was just sitting there in an oversized MIT gray hoodie and pajama shorts, her hair was in a messy bun with pieces falling in her face. She had her ever present glasses and no makeup and her skin was a little pink from her time on the beach that day, but as he looked at her and the sudden fire in her eyes he stopped breathing for a second. And he was incredibly worried that if he answered her that his voice wouldn’t be the best so he just nodded. 

"That just all seems like such bullshit. I mean, I don't know it's gotta be...really frustrating, not having their faith in you. I mean, my mom was never super supportive of my academics, but that not because she didn't believe in me, it was just because she never really understood what the hell I was doing most of the time" He smiled as she continued to babble. He knew he should stop her, but the fire in her eyes had simmered a little and she was now waving her hands, and the nail polish wand around to assist in her talking and she looked so freaking adorable that he never wanted it to end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	5. I'll Be Stuck Fixated on One Star (when the world is crashing down)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No more tip-toeing around the issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter got away from me, it is incredibly long but I couldn't manage to cut anything. It is all very important to get these things out of the way. 
> 
> We have one more chapter of angst coming our way and then it is smooth sailing from then on out.
> 
> If you are interested in seeing regular updates to how each chapter is coming, or seeing the photos that inspire each chapter then follow me on tumblr :) http://rileyscottwrites.tumblr.com/

I'll Be Stuck Fixated on One Star (when the world is crashing down) 

Chapter Five 

June 19th

Sara wasn't really sure how she ended up like this. She was being blackmailed. Blackmailed by her bartender/friend. 

She had decided to swing by The League tonight earlier than usual. Laurel and Tommy had decided to have a date night so Felicity and Sara has shared an early dinner and then Felicity had called it a night. Now Sara was deeply regretting the fact that she hadn't taken her best friend up on the Netflix marathon she had offered. 

She had only been in the bar for about twenty minutes, and at first she didn't see Nyssa and had worried that she had taken a day off. But then she had popped out of the back with a case of redbull in prep for the college kids that night and Sara had felt a strange flush take over her face. She was busy trying not to analyze why she always had some sort of physical reaction when she first saw Nyssa, when the lady in question had come over to her. Sara should have known that something was going on the second she saw the smirk on Nyssa's lips. 

“I'm glad you're here. I have a proposition for you.” Nyssa said, her hands spreading wide over the bar surface, her body leaning into Sara so that she could be heard over the jukebox. Once again Sara felt her face flush and her mind started to race. 

“A-A proposition?” Sara stumbled and then groaned internally. She was definitely spending way too much time with Felicity. 

“Yes. You've been coming here for a while now, and I don't remember you paying for a single drink.” Nyssa started, and if Sara hadn't noticed that her smirk had grown into a full smile then she would have gotten defensive. Instead she returned her smile, almost against her will and chuckled. 

“Well, if I remember correctly, I tried many times to pay. But that bartender of yours doesn't think my money is any good here.” She teased, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip to keep her smile from taking over her whole face. 

“Yes, well I'll look into that.” Nyssa started and then looked around and then leaned further into Sara like she was confiding in her. “But, in the meantime, I think we should discuss your method of repayment.” The bartender finished, her eyebrow cocked and her smirk back in place.

Sara would have thought of a witty response, she was sure of it. But Nyssa was very close to her face. Like bordering on obscene, no personal bubble space was had that day. It was unnerving and Sara wasn't really sure why suddenly she felt like her head was full of fog. Sara was coherent enough to notice that Nyssa's pinkie finger was resting against her curled fist, however and for some reason that made the fog seem even more dense. 

Once Nyssa realized that Sara wasn't going to question her repayment plan she dipped her head a little and smiled at bar top. “I will take your silence to mean acceptance. I have a day off tomorrow, and as we have previously discussed, on my days off I use my time to indulge in my other job.” 

This made the fog clear a little for Sara and she titled her head to meet Nyssa's eyes. “Your photography?” Sara questioned dumbly. Nyssa nodded. “So you're working on your portfolio tomorrow? How can I help with that?” She asked, and then immediately her heart picked up it's pace because her mind had answered her question for her. “Oh, God. You want me to model don't you?” She asked with a groan, her head going down to rest on her fist on the bar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy was really happy that he and Laurel had decided to have date night tonight. Even though they had woken up together every morning and had spent the majority of every night together in the last week or so he still felt like he wasn't getting enough time with her. In all honestly, he never thought he could get enough time with her. 

It was pretty gross.

But he didn't really care.

In fact, that just made him determined to get even more time with her so they could be gross together. 

With that thought, Tommy rolled off of the bed they shared and padded over to their bathroom and peeked in. Laurel was standing at the double sinks, her eyes fixed on her reflection as she applied her skin creme and he smiled. He didn't speak at first, content to just lean his hip against the sink beside her as she worked her nightly routine and watch reflection in the mirror. This was by far the most domestic he had ever been with a woman. And five years ago, hell even three years ago it would have scared the hell out of him. But now it just made him feel excited. If he had his way he would be standing by her side in the mirror, watching her apply that damn creme for the next sixty years. 

Laurel ignored him at first, accepting his weirdness at face value. But once she pulled her toothbrush out of her bag and started to apply the toothpaste she meet his eyes in the mirror with a raised brow. “Okay, Merlyn, is this some kind of weird sex thing? Because I can assure you that my kinks are not centered on you watching me eliminate plaque.” 

Tommy's smile widened and he scooted closer to her. “Spend the day with me tomorrow.” He said simply. It wasn't a request, but it wasn't quite an order either, he at least knew not to go that far. Laurel sat her toothbrush down and turned to him, her face scrunched in confusion. “I'm sorry, have I been in a different universe this whole trip? I could have sworn that I spend all my days with you.”

“Not enough.” He said, his hand raising to straighten the strap of her sleep top, and then left his hand resting on her shoulder. “I want the whole day, just us.” He explained softly. He felt unreasonably worried that she would turn him down. But she just smiled at him as though he was a bit touched in the head and laughed lightly.

“Deal. But only if I can brush in peace. Get out of here.” She huffed at him, shaking his hand from her shoulder jokingly and turning back to her mirror and grabbing her brush. Tommy moved from the counter, very pleased and started to make his way back to their bedroom and then stopped, and spun on his heal quickly with his hand in the air. 

“Wait, what was that earlier about your kinks? What kinks? I need examples.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 20th 

9am

The whole house was buzzing with energy that morning. It was one of the first times that Felicity thought it felt like a house shared by a group of friends. 

Tommy and Laurel spent the morning getting ready to go off and spend a day together in couplely bliss and Sara had been rushing around, a hair brush in one hand and an armful of outfits in the other to get ready for her day of 'working' with Nyssa. 

Felicity just sat there on the couch, her tablet in her hands, trying not to get in anyone's way. 

She had skipped her usual morning on the beach, opting instead to help a frantic Sara pick out clothing for her day with Nyssa and helping Laurel pick out which shoes went the best with her new dress they had bought in town the day before. As it turned out, what was best for both the Lance sisters was items from Felicity's closet. 

It was just as well, because as Felicity had tirelessly explained to her friends over the course of the morning, she was totally content just hanging out in the empty house all day. She had a lot of stuff to catch up on. Facebook, twitter, netflix, hell she hadn't browsed her tumblr dashboard in weeks. WEEKS. 

She had a full day of beach bum excitement planned for her and she was actually really looking forward to it. In fact, the only reason she was sitting on the couch instead of being in her room or out by the pool was because she didn't want Tommy to have to walk too far to keep checking on her. He was pretty useless in the struggle of two women getting ready and so he had spent his morning in the kitchen, catching up on emails and business calls. Even though he wasn't anywhere near ready to open his first club, he was already lining up investors. So Felicity found it a lot easier to stay close to him, so that he could regularly check to make sure she wasn't feeling abandoned by her friends. 

It was on one of those checks that Laurel finally made her way down stairs. And Felicity was struck by just how intimated she should feel. Laurel was always so damn perfect. She was using this day on the town with Tommy as a chance to dress up and she looked amazing. Her hair was pulled back into a casual updo, and she was wearing a stunning figure hugging dress that barely hit mid-thigh, with an awesome scarf draped over her neck to give it a more causal look. And Felicity suddenly wanted to just give Laurel those shoes, as they looked so much more at home on her never ending legs. 

“How I Survived Life As The Duff: A Memoir” Felicity muttered, but it was loud enough for Laurel and Tommy to both hear her. Laurel just smirked and laughed it off, but Tommy looked super confused. 

“What's a Duff?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11am

Sara was a hot mess.

She was such a hot mess that she was using the term, hot mess. As so much else in her life, she felt like she could blame Felicity for that because she had forced her to read not just one, but all of Chelsea Handler's books. And that bitch was a hot mess.

Not unlike Sara was right now. 

She should have just found another bar to go to every night. 

When Nyssa had first suggested/bargained for Sara to model for her Sara had outright refused. But as she was quickly learning, she didn't like to disappoint Nyssa. She was also quickly learning that she didn't want to think to hard about why disappointing Nyssa made her sick to her stomach. 

So to avoid a sick feeling stomach, Sara had agreed to this disaster, and now she was sitting shotgun in Nyssa's jeep and they were on their way to whatever location that she deemed appropriate. Sara realized that she was putting a lot of trust into someone she had only known for a short time. Nyssa could very well be leading her to a secluded spot to murder her. 

That would almost be better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nyssa could feel how uncertain her traveling companion was with their plans for the day, and she wanted so badly to reassure her. But she wasn't entirely sure what was so unsettling to Sara about the whole thing. Was it simply because she was uncomfortable with the idea of being photographed? Or was it something deeper?

Nyssa knew that the younger girl had reservations about their evolving friendship, and that she always seemed on the verge of running in the opposite direction, but she wasn't sure if it was also the motivation behind her hesitance now. 

Nyssa knew that she was developing feelings for Sara. She had been attracted to her since the moment she met her. She had this air of toughness to her, like she always had her guard up to hide the fact that she felt everything too much. Nyssa could tell from just looking at her that she was an intense and passionate person, and that had drawn her in. 

And Nyssa also knew from the start that Sara was attracted to her as well. 

That was as clear to her as the fact that Sara had no clue and wouldn't be the first to act on it. So Nyssa had taken things slow. She knew that being aggressive in her pursuit of Sara would only make the girl run, and that it would make her retreat even further back into herself. So she had decided to become her friend with the thought that if anything came of it then she would worry about it then. 

In that time she had learned so much about her. From Sara’s upbringing and past relationships it was no surprise that she wasn't aware of her attraction to women. Sara had grown up in a very strict household, and while they weren't overly conservative they also weren't the most accepting. The Lance's expected a lot of their daughters. They wanted impressive degrees, fancy jobs and big families. They wanted conventional pride. They didn't want different, and that was an enormous amount of pressure. 

The family's reaction to Sara’s indiscretion with her sister's boyfriend went a long way to show how they would react to Sara being with a woman. Nyssa knew that was why she had suppressed any attractions that she felt would be frowned upon by those around her. She didn't want to be punished for loving someone again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

12pm

So far Felicity's day of being a beach bum was going as expected. Once she officially had the house to herself she had decided that staying in her pjs was totally acceptable and had spent the last hour camped out on the couch watching Daredevil on Netflix. When she heard the door slide open in the kitchen she worried that Sara had flaked out on her day with Nyssa. But she paused her tablet just as a guy was getting his face smashed in with a bowling ball and looked up in time to see Oliver stroll into the room. She could tell by the ease in which he carried himself that he was aware that the rest of the house was out for the day. This was the first time she had actually see him in the living room since his first night. 

She could tell that he had kept to his morning routine of running and his swim. His skin was still pink from the sun and his hair still soaked with salt water and she smiled when his eyes met hers. 

“Hey, buddy.” She greeted in a drawn out manner, pushing her glasses back up on her nose and stretching out onto the couch further. 

Oliver smiled at her making his way over to sit on the arm of the couch farthest away from her. “I didn't see you on the beach this morning. I was beginning to think that you'd forgotten about me.” He teased, but she could hear the question. Odd. She didn't think he would really miss her. Yes, they had been meeting on the beach each morning for a while now, but it wasn't exactly a standing date. Or a date at all really. They just happened to have a morning routine that overlapped. 

“Yeah, Sara had a thing today that she was nervous about and I had to help her get ready. And Laurel needed to borrow some stuff for her day date with Tommy.” She explained, sitting her tablet on the table in front of her and pulling her knees up to her chest to wrap her arms around her legs. She rested her head on top of her knees and titled her head at him with a smirk. “Why, did ya miss me?” She asked on a laugh.

Oliver didn't answer her, he just looked around the room and rubbed his hands on his swim trunks. “Sara had a thing? Like a date thing?” He asked instead. Felicity could tell that he was going for casual but it wasn't working. She felt a stab of curiosity. Was he really interested in whether Sara had a date? She could have sworn he had been avoiding Sara like a bad habit. She shook her head and pursed her lips. 

“Ish.” She said with a shrug. Oliver finally looked her in the eye again and looked confused. “Ish?” He asked. “Yeah, like I think it's a date thing but she doesn't. Or at least I think she's trying to convince herself it isn't, and trying not to think she wants it to be. It's complicated. And I also think it's going to blow up in her face soon if she doesn't wake up. But that's just me. I'm not her Mom, just the friend that provides the mint chocolate chip when she does something stupid.” 

Oliver still looked confused, actually he looked even more confused now. But instead of asking any further questions he just nodded and say “O-kay-y” with his eyebrows pinched together. Felicity giggled at him and went to pick her tablet back up. She assumed he would take the hint from there and she could go back to her binge, but he just sat there quietly on the other end of the couch. 

Finally after a few moments of silence, in which she played a few rounds of Candy Crush and he just breathed he cleared his throat to get her attention. “So, um, do you have a 'ish' thing today?” He asked her awkwardly and Felicity felt her eyebrows reach her hairline. 

“Uh, no. Not that I'm aware of. Why?” She responded and she could have sworn he looked a little...shifty. Odd.

“Well I don't either. So wanna hang out?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3pm

One of the first things Laurel had learned about Tommy was that he was go big or go home. He had been that way since she meet him as a small child. He lived his life in a big way and never did anything small time. It was one of the most charming things about him. But it was also a trait of his that she had smothered the past two years.

She knew that if he had it his way that she would have anything and everything she had ever wanted. He would wine and dine her three meals a day. Fly her to Paris for dinner, to Italy for dessert. But she had never let him do anything like that with her. 

She kept a very tight rein on their relationship and she barely let him even take her in public. But she knew that it was exhausting for him to tamper that part of him, and she was starting to realize that it was almost just as exhausting for her.

So last night as they were lying in bed, and he guided her head to his chest and asked her if he could plan their day together, she had agreed. And she had promised herself that she wouldn't ruin this day for him. 

It was with that mindset that she had simply smiled this morning when a stretch limo had arrived to drive them to their first stop of the day. The first stop that happened to be an amazingly romantic beach that was home wild horses. They spent the first few hours of their day walking hand in hand along the water as horses galloped around them and played in the water. Laurel knew that she was terribly over dressed for this, and she had to carry her borrowed shoes in the one hand that Tommy hadn't commandeered but she really couldn't force herself to care. 

From there they had shared lunch and lots of wine at a water front restaurant and talked about his plans for his clubs. Laurel couldn't help but feel proud of him. She, and everyone else in their lives, had expected Tommy to follow the simple route and join his Father's company. It was a secure plan for his future. But he hated his Father and the man had no great love his son either. Tommy wasn't passionate about the work either, in fact it bored him to tears. So instead of taking the easy way out he decided to find something he was interested in. The irony of a reformed party boy opening a string of nightclubs didn't escape her, but she knew that he could make it work. She also knew that he was downright terrified that he would fail, but he was doing it anyway and that was incredible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara had to admit, this wasn't nearly as awful as she had first thought. Sure she was pretty damn uncomfortable having to play act infront of a camera. But Nyssa was extremely talented and seemed to get the shot she wanted pretty quickly. She also did a great job of distracting her. 

The first located that Nyssa had picked was a hidden away wooded area and they had just walked around for awhile and talked. Every now and then Nyssa would trail off and Sara would turn to her and realize that she was snapping her picture. It was a little unsettling but it did eventually help get her used to it. 

By mid-afternoon they had made their way to a beach about half and hour away from town. There where a ton of rock formations and for a Saturday afternoon in mid-June, it was pretty deserted. Sara didn't have to pose nearly as much as she had expected, mostly Nyssa would just ask her to walk around, sometimes she would have her climb or sit on a rock and they would talk. Nyssa seemed really happy with the progress they were making and she made Sara feel a lot more confident than she had been this morning. 

At times Sara even found herself forgetting what their mission was for the day. She let herself imagine that they were just having fun together, away from the bar, away from her family drama and it was nice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5pm

Oliver knew that he had come up with some really awful plans in his lifetime. He was almost known for it. But today he topped even himself. 

When Tommy had told him the night before that he wouldn't be able to spend the day with him like usual Oliver had been relieved. He knew that Tommy was starting to catch on that Oliver was acting strange. And despite they fact that they had been having fun together so far, he knew that eventually his friend would call him on his bullshit. Oliver didn't want to act different around Tommy. But he also didn't want to disappoint his friend, either. Tommy had grown up with Ollie, and Oliver didn't really know how to explain to him that Ollie was gone. So Oliver had been happy that he would have a day where he didn't need to play like the last five years hadn't happened and that he could just relax. 

But that morning his good mood had been shaken when he finished his run and Felicity wasn't in her usual spot. At first he thought maybe she had decided to sleep in, so he had just gone for his swim. But she still wasn't there when he finished that. He tried not to let it bug him, because he had already decided that he had been getting too attached to the fiery blonde and that he needed to start spending less time with her. But try as he might, it still bothered him that he hadn't gotten to talk with her. 

After that he had avoided the house for a while, he debated going for a ride on his bike, but that would mean putting on real clothes, and those were in the house. So he had just hung out on 'their' spot on the beach and listened to the waves. It was late morning when he finally made his way up to the house and of course he had run into her first thing. 

He was amazed at how beautiful she looked just curled up on the couch in a tank top and sleep shorts. He tried to make idle conversation with her, but talking about Sara and her potential date wasn't exactly a fun topic so he had been as a loss. It was obvious to him that she had no intentions of doing anything else that day but relaxing, and a large part of him wanted to take the out that she gave him and just leave her to her tv show. But an even greater part knew that it would sit wrong with him for the rest of the day if he passed up a chance to spend time with her. 

It hadn't seemed like a bad plan at the time. But that was true for pretty much all of his plans since puberty so he wasn't all that surprised. Felicity had seemed really shocked when he suggested they spend the day together. She had babbled a lot about Tommy and something about something called a Duff but she had eventually agreed. Then ran past him to get dressed. He was surprised when it took her even less time to change into her summer uniform of jean shorts, tank top and high ponytail than it did for him to throw on a pair of cargo shorts, black t-shirt and baseball cap. 

He hadn't had some grand plan, had just gone into the invite blind so he had to think quick. While he was getting dressed he remembered that he had seen a few cheesy touristy areas while on his nightly bike ride so he decided they could check them out. 

With some convincing on his part, Oliver managed to get her to let him drive them into town on his bike and they started their adventure on the boardwalk and found a place that offered made to order donuts. Felicity swore it was her new version of Heaven, and as Oliver watched her demolish her third one he couldn't find a reason to disagree. After the most unhealthy lunch he had ever witnessed they continued their journey down the boardwalk, occasionally stopping in a souvenir shop to laugh at all of the neon colored t-shirts, and Felicity insisted they stop in any bar that had loud enough music. So the bulk of their afternoon was spent with Oliver following behind her as she bounced along to jukeboxes and tried on an absurd amount of trucker hats and sunglasses with dollar signs. 

Eventually they left the boardwalk and he drove them to a few different battleship memorials and they had stumbled upon a sand dune that hosted hang gliders. So they had spent their late afternoon watching as people flew off of the dunes. It was all very innocent and Felicity seemed to be having a great time. She had hardly stopped laughing the entire day, and as the time went on he could tell that she was getting more and more comfortable with him. 

But now they were driving back into town heading to grab dinner and he was finally starting to see the flaw in his plan. His time here wasn't supposed to be about getting to know Felicity Smoak. He wasn't supposed to be spending his days with her, not supposed to be spending his nights in her room talking about his family. He wasn't supposed to be sharing his life with her, or asking her about hers. This wasn't supposed to be happening. He came home three months early for one reason, and that was to make right what he had broken five years ago. He was supposed to see Laurel, Sara and Tommy and give the four of them closure so that Tommy could have the life with Laurel that he wanted. And Laurel could stop hating him. 

But instead of doing that he was spending all of his time with Tommy pretending to be the selfish asshole that he used to be, and spending any second he could with Felicity. He had missed her this morning. This girl that hadn't even been in his life three weeks and he had missed her. He couldn't sleep at night unless he talked to her first. He pushed himself through his morning run so that he could sit beside her and listen to her mutter about her crossword puzzle and watch her apply yet another coat of sunscreen. He was an idiot. And he had feelings for the girl his best friend treated like a sister. The same girl that was best friends with Sara and Laurel. The sisters that he had torn apart. 

He was the biggest asshat on the planet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7pm

Nyssa had expected that her day with Sara to be filled with tension and awkward silences. Especially after their car ride that morning. But once they had gotten started and Sara had seen that she wouldn't be expected to do anything too out of the ordinary she had started to open back up again. It had not only made for an enjoyable day together, it had also created some amazingly beautiful photographs. Nyssa was extremely proud of the work they had done. 

After they had spent a few hours on the beach, Nyssa had asked Sara back to her house so that they could take a few more shots by the pool. The light had still be adequate and Nyssa had eventually convinced Sara to let her shoot her while she was in the pool. It wasn't an easy sell, as Sara had only brought a few tank tops and shorts with her, no swimsuits, but she had been able to convince her that it worked even better.

She had been right, the photos of Sara in the pool, her hair slicked back from her face and her black top clinging to her where the best shots of the day. And after they were finished in the pool Nyssa had decided to call it a day. There had been some awkwardness when Sara had emerged from the pool and Nyssa was able to tell that she and Sara shared the confusion about what to do or say next. Finally it occurred to her that is was around dinnertime and she had asked Sara if she would be up staying for dinner. 

The younger girl seemed very hesitant and struggled with it for a few minutes. But then she smiled and took the towel Nyssa was offering for her and agreed. 

That was how they ended up here, in her kitchen. It had been ages since Nyssa had anyone else to cook for, and she knew that she was over doing it a bit. But she was excited to have a dinner companion. She had decided to go with something sort of basic, but still different and had settled on beef hayashi over rice. It was something her Mother had made for her when she was small and it always made the house smell like home. 

To fill the silence Nyssa and Sara talked about their favorite foods. Like a typical American Sara tended to like everything deep fried. That made her laugh and she smiled at the blonde girl. She stood stirring her rice and face Sara who was sitting at the bar across from her and it felt like it could be any other night they had spent together. 

“You know, “She started “for as long as I have been in this country I will never understand your culture's determination to fry everything.” Sara laughed and it made the tension in Nyssa's shoulders relax a little. “Um, hello, it makes everything taste better.” Sara said with a smile and then took another sip of her beer. Nyssa felt herself shaking her head and snorted. “Take a french fry for instance, it's no longer even a potato. All the nutritional value has been soaked in oil and burned away.”

“You're cute.” Sara said with a laugh and Nyssa looked up from the stove in shock. She could tell that Sara hadn't meant to let it slip and just like that the ease they had achieved was gone again. It made her worry that they would never be able to maintain any semblance of comfort with each other. Sara was proving to be even more unaware than she had first thought and it didn't seem to be getting any better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy was hard pressed to think of any days in his life that had gone better than today.

He had spent the day with his favorite girl and she had for once let him spoil her. Granted, he wasn't in the best position to spoil her as much as he wanted, what with his Father restricting his spending. But he thought he had managed to do very well. The limo that had carted them around today was one of the Merlyn perks that he still had access to and most of their adventures today hadn't cost a dime. 

But dinner he had insisted on splurging on. He had come to this restaurant a lot as a kid, it had been his Mother's favorite spot on the east coast. It was facing the ocean and had a massive outdoor seating area with a glass railing. Instead of chairs, all of the diners sat in cushy loveseats with small wooden tables. Each diner would have a small section to themselves with candle light. It was very intimate and romantic, and nothing short of perfect for his dinner with Laurel. 

He could tell that she had felt uncomfortable at times today, believing herself to be overdressed, but he hadn't allowed her to go to home to change because it was the perfect dress for this venue. They had been at the restaurant for over an hour now, taking their time with cocktails and appetizers and small talk. Laurel was curled into his side with his arm wrapped around her to fight off the slight chill coming from the water and she seemed happier than he remembered her being since before any of them had looked at each other as anything other than a friend. 

He sighed and ran his fingers along her bare arm, pulling her further into his side and breathed in the scent of her shampoo. He wanted so badly to tell her what this meant to him. Wanted to tell her what she meant. But he knew that she wasn't ready.

He loved her, and had since before he even knew what the word meant. He had grown up alongside her just as Oliver had and he had watched as she and Ollie had been pushed together by all of the adults in their lives and had never once said a word. He had been just as complicit in the mucking up of their futures as they had been ,and once it had blown up in all of their faces he had started to see the disaster that was their environment. And he had been trying to extract himself from it ever since, and take Laurel right along with him. 

But she had fought him the entire way, was still fighting him. And he knew that she would continue to until they all managed to fix what had been broken for the better part of their adult lives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10pm 

Felicity smiled as she sunk deeper into the hold that she had on Oliver's back. This afternoon when he had suggested they take his bike into town she thought he had lost his mind. She had managed to make it this far in life without risking her face smashing into assault at a rate of 60mph and she hadn't intended on trying it out today. But he had made his puppy dog face, the one that she wasn't even sure he knew he possessed and she had found it hard to resist and now that she was safely on the way back to the beach house she could admit that the bike was actually kind of fun. 

She also found it hard to deny that she had just spent a pretty spectacular day with a guy that was pretty sure used to be the devil. When she had first heard stories of Ollie Queen from Sara she was pretty sure he was going to be the slimiest jerkface ever. And even after she had met him and he had seemed human, she kept waiting for his scales to show. For him to make a pass at her, or to catch him checking out her ass. Or for him to stumble home with some underage girl in the middle of the night. 

But it never happened and he continued to surprise her each day, and she actually felt herself warming up to the idea of letting him be a friend, which is something he seemed in short supply of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dinner had gone better than Sara had anticipated after her accidental flirtation. She didn't want Nyssa to get the wrong idea about what she expected out of their friendship, and it had worried her a little when she had slipped earlier. Sara was a flirtatious person by nature, and it often got her into trouble. She in no way wanted to lead Nyssa on. 

At least, that's what she had told herself. But then she had had another beer before dinner. And three with dinner. And then switched to the whatever wine it was that Nyssa had been sipping all night and suddenly she didn't care so much about false impressions and censoring what she had to say. After eating they had made their way back out to the pool and were sitting with their feet in the pool, both with a glass of wine and talking quietly. Sara found herself to be more relaxed than she had been in a long time and had started to really enjoy the heat that filled her, the heat that she was certain was caused by Nyssa's closeness. 

“You know, I haven't meet anybody that I felt this close to since I moved in with Felicity?” Sara said suddenly. She searched her mind once the words left her mouth, wondering if they were actually true, and if they had anything at all to do with what they had been talking about.

Nyssa didn't seem to mind either way, if the soft smile she was sporting was anything to go by. Sara felt encouraged by her silence for some reason and continued. “I mean, I have friends, don't get me wrong. But I have never been a person that needs to be around other people. I like my space, I like to keep my life as low key as possible. I don't trust people easily. But you, you really snuck up on me.” She said, her eyes not leaving the other woman's face. 

Nyssa blinked her eyes slowly, and Sara felt better that the alcohol wasn't affecting just her. “I feel the same way, Sara. I feel very happy that I met you.” She said quietly, her head titling to meet her shoulder, her eyes closing as she breathed in the night air. 

They sat there in silence for a long time, just enjoying the coolness and the feeling of their legs submerged in the water. Sara couldn't seem to take her eyes off of her friend and wasn't in much of a hurry to. Nyssa was still resting her eyes and she took advantage of the time to fully examine her features. She was really very striking. Sara had become a little dazed, not realizing how much time had passed, or how close she had allowed herself to drift. And then she was snapped out of it when Nyssa's eyes came slowly open and their gazes locked. 

She wasn't entirely sure what happened after that. Between the wine, the tension of the day and the warmth rushing through her veins she just stopped her mind and acted. She wasn't even sure why she was moving forward until she felt her lips brushing against Nyssa's. She stayed there, their lips just barely touching with her eyes closed. She breathed in her scent and all of her nerves felt like they were on fire, and everything in her begged her to kiss Nyssa again, to sink into her. 

But then Nyssa was saying her name, and she could feel the words against her lips and she panicked. She pulled away from her quickly, her eyes wild and suddenly she couldn't get away from her fast enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11pm

Oliver knew something was off the second he walked into his room. Something felt...off. So he didn't jump when he flipped the light switch and saw the blonde girl curled up in the chair in the corner with her head tucked into her shoulder with her eyes closed.

Sara.

He was aware that she had been trying to get him alone since he'd arrived, and so he had been dodging her. He was knew that it couldn't last forever, and really he shouldn't be surprised that she had sunk to sneaking into his room, she had always been rash. That obviously hadn't changed in his time away.

She looked awful, and for a second he worried that something had gone wrong on her 'ish' date. He wanted to ask her, to make sure that she was okay and he started to walk towards her when her eyes popped open and she had him pinned with her stare. She had been crying, that much was obvious and her hair and clothing looked like it had been soaked at some point, only to dry naturally. He stood in the center of the room, with his hands raised in front of him in a defensive manner, approaching her like a wounded animal.

She didn't move from her spot, he legs folded underneath her and her head still laying on her shoulder as she started to speak. But he wasn't entirely sure that she was talking to him as much as she was musing out loud. 

“You know?” She started to ask quietly “I always thought I was hung up on you. I watched you with her for years and everything about her life seemed so perfect, including you. And I wanted that, so I wanted you. I wanted any piece of her life that I could have. So I became infatuated with the idea of being with you. This dream, this ideal. But then it happened, and it just didn't feel like I thought it would. It was awful. And then it was over. It was over and then my life fell apart and then you were gone. So after that I convinced myself that I felt so hollow because instead of obtaining the dream I had ruined it. I told myself that if you came back that it would be different and that now that I was older, and that she was with someone else that we could be together. That it would feel like it was supposed to. But then something happened and I did something really stupid tonight. Like epically stupid and it hit me for the first time that I don't think it was about you. I think I just made myself believe that it was, so I didn't have to really think about it. As fucked up as it sounds, you were safe. Loving you made it work in my mind. But then tonight-” Finally she stopped, her voice trailing off as she wiped at the tears that had begun to stream down her face again. 

Oliver had stood there, in the center of his room, unmoving as she ranted. He was so confused and didn't know what was happening. All he knew is that she had come to him and he couldn't fail her again. So he walked towards her slowly and came to stand in front of her. She showed no outward emotion to his nearness so he squatted down in front of the chair so that they were eye level.

“Sara, what happened tonight? Did-did someone hurt you?” He asked her, and he could hear his voice breaking. He was not prepared for this and he wanted to get Felicity from the next room to come and help but knew that Sara had chosen his room for a reason. 

Instead of answering his question she just meet his eyes and looked a little panicked. “Did you ever love me? Did you ever think about me, Ollie? Did you miss me when you were gone?” She asked him, her voice rushed.

This is why he had been avoiding her. When he had been with Laurel, and even before that, he had always known that Sara harbored a crush on him. It wasn't a huge surprise, at the time most girls felt that way about him. And much like with every other girl, Oliver had encouraged her feelings. He was an asshole who loved to preen and having that attention always made him feel better about himself. But he had never seen Sara that way. She was too young, too rough around the edges. And she reminded him too much of his little sister for it to not be creepy to him. But that hadn't stopped him from taking what she offered the night that he had ruined everything. But just because he had indulged in a night of bad decisions with her, it didn't mean that his view of her had changed. And while Ollie might not have had issues with telling someone that he 'just wasn't into them', Oliver certainly did, so he had avoided her and these questions. 

Thankfully he never got the chance to answer her, because she decided to fill the silence. “Because I didn't. I didn't miss you, I didn't love you. I don't. I told myself I did, but I don't.” She confessed, her eyes on her lap. “I came here, to see you, because I hoped that when I saw you that I would feel something. That I would want you again and then it would be okay. I thought seeing you would be enough, that I could forget anyone else. But it doesn't work like that, does it?”

Oliver couldn't take it anymore. “Sara, what the hell is going on? What are you trying to say here? What happened tonight. What did you do?” 

Sara just looked at him and she seemed calm for the first time since he entered his room. “I'm sorry, Ollie. I'm sorry that I came to you that night. I know you took so much of that blame on yourself. But it wasn't all your fault. I planned it. I knew you were drunk, that you weren't making good decisions and I knew that you were in a really shitty place. But I didn't care.”

Oliver sat back on his heels, and was speechless for a second. His head felt too heavy for his neck and he was suddenly exhausted. “Sara, what? What are you talking about? I was an adult. I was dating Laurel. I was the responsible one and I should have stopped it.” He could feel himself getting angry. He always got angry at himself when he thought about that night. He didn't remember all that much, just running into Sara on the street and then being on the boat with her in his lap. But he knew his moves, he knew what he was like back then. 

Sara shook her head and smiled at him softly. “Oh, Ollie. No, it was both of us. I knew what I was doing and I just didn't care about who I hurt. I never thought about what would happen, I just wanted to prove something to myself.” At this Oliver backed up, letting her stand. They stood face to face now and he looked down at her. She still looked like she had been through hell and back, but lighter somehow. He instantly regretted avoiding her for so long. Maybe they should have had this talk a long time ago. 

He stood to the side, letting her walk past him. He thought at first that they were done, but just as she got to the door she turned to face him. “You really need to talk to Laurel. She doesn't realize how much what happened is still riding her. We all have been making some really shitty choices based off of something that never should have happened. Fix it, I intend to.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel had been pretty beat by the time they had gotten back to the house. So he had offered to return Felicity's shoes while she started herself a bath. So he had rushed up the steps to that side of the house and bounded down the hall, expecting to see his friend curled in bed with a book. He was surprised when she seemed to be just settling in. She was pulling what looked like cheesy souvenirs out of a plastic bag, and her face was pink from being in the sun. 

“Hey, lemon drop.” He greeted, walking into her room with a smile. 

“Hey, dorkus.” She returned with a sunny smile and held her hand out to take the shoes from him. He passed them over and then launched himself onto her bed with a bounce, landing on the pillows. He stretched out and watched as she fluttered around the room, getting herself ready for bed. “Soooo-” He started, drawing the word out. “How was your day of lonely leisure?” He asked, trying not to sound like he was prying. He knew that he wasn't successful when she turned to him with a cocked eyebrow. “It wasn't. I actually spent the day with Oliver.” She offered and he could tell that she tried to make it come off as casual, seeing as how half the house spoke that name like a dirty word.

“You and Ollie went out?” He felt himself ask, and even to his own ears it sounded like a judgment. 

Felicity sent him a glare, pulling her sleep shorts out of the top drawer of her dresser and turned to him with her hip cocked to the side. “No, we did not 'go out' we just hung out. We both didn't have any real plans today so we just goofed off. You were right, he isn't that bad of a guy. It was fun.” 

Fun.

Oliver and Felicity had fun.

Interesting.

He had known Oliver for 20 years and he knew what his version of 'fun' with a hot blonde entailed. 

Tommy could feel himself getting worked up. He loved Oliver, the man was literally like a brother to him. But he also didn't trust him with anyone in a skirt. Especially when that said skirt was Felicity Smoak. All sorts of ideas flooded his mind, the most prominent of which was Felicity getting her heart stomped on by his best friend and then suddenly vanishing from his life. So far she was the only female in his Tommy's life that didn’t flinch when Ollie was mentioned and he wanted nothing more than to keep it that way. Ollie was an asshole, this was common knowledge. But so was a defensive Tommy and he could feel himself losing control. 

He quickly made excuses to Felicity and said his goodnight. He needed to get out of her room before he said something that he would regret. 

His first instinct was to return to his room. And he started to head in that direction, knowing a confrontation with Oliver tonight would just make things worse. But then he felt his pocket vibrate and when he saw it was his Father he knew that the night was going down the hole whether he wanted it to or not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver could hear someone push at the door of his room and turned. He expected to see Sara standing there. She had only been gone a few seconds and she had still seemed so confused and still had tears running down her face. He had wanted so badly to comfort her but he had never been very good at that.  
But instead of a distressed blonde he saw Tommy. He smiled at first, thinking that his friend was there to get a beer before bed or something. But when he took in Tommy's face he grew concerned. 

“Hey, bro what's wrong? Is Laurel okay?” He asked and immediately knew that it was the wrong thing to say. Tommy looked pissed. It wasn't something he had seen often over their decades long friendship, but he still knew when something had gone seriously wrong. 

Tommy laughed, but it was obvious he didn't find anything funny. 

“You couldn't do it, could you? You knew that I needed you here. You knew that I needed you to help me fix things. I asked one thing of you, to fix what you helped break and you have been doing everything but.” He asked him, and he didn't sound angry. He sounded done. 

Oliver felt the shame showing on his face and he nodded. “I'm-I'm sorry, Tommy.” He said, and stopped. Because he simply didn't know what else to say. Tommy just nodded. “Yeah, man, you always are. Look, I know the last few years haven't been that great for you. I mean, I assume anyway since you never seem to want to talk about what happened while you were gone. And I know that the last thing you want is to have to face up to what happened, but I really need this. I also really need you to stop doing whatever it is you're doing with Felicity. Oh and while you're at it, sneaking around with Sara? That's what got you both into this position in this first place.”

Oliver thought about arguing with him. Tommy was wrong, he wasn't 'sneaking' around with Sara. But he wasn't wrong about Felicity. Or about him avoiding his reason for being here, or talking about his time away. So he just stood there, looking at his feet until Tommy sighed. 

“Look, man, I have to head out for a few days. My Dad needs me at home for something stupid and needless. I'll be back by Wednesday. I need you to figure out whatever it is that is going on with you by then. I need you to be ready to deal with this. Or I need you gone.” 

Oliver's eyes snapped up, looking Tommy over. He sounded so exhausted and Oliver felt awful. So he just tucked his hands into the pockets of his shorts and nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1am

After Sara had rushed away earlier Nyssa had thought about going after her. But decided it was best to wait. She knew that eventually the other woman would come to terms with what was happening between them. She never expected for it to happen so soon. 

She had just been heading to bed, all the lights were off, the locks secured, when she heard a knock. It had surprised her, but even at such a late hour she had expected almost anyone other than Sara Lance at her door. She could tell that it had taken her a long time to make it there. She seemed apprehensive and they both stood in the doorway, not speaking for what felt like hours but could have only been a few minutes. Finally Sara seemed to gather her thoughts and she smiled and Nyssa felt something in her chest flutter. 

“I, um, I know it's late.” Sara started, finally meeting Nyssa's eyes “But I have been talking myself out of this for about six years now and I know that if I didn't see you tonight that it could be another six years before I felt like this again.” 

Not knowing quite what to say, Nyssa stepped back further into the house, letting Sara walk past her and she closed the door. Nyssa had a million questions racing in her mind, but she knew that Sara would have to answer them in her own time. She was obviously here on a mission and Nyssa didn't want to spook her again.

The entryway to the house was dark, the only light coming from the moon shining from the living room windows and Nyssa had to focus to see the play of emotions of the other woman's face. 

“You see-” Sara started, stepping closer to Nyssa. “I have been pretty good at lying to myself for a long time, but for some reason I couldn't really stay away from you. Even though I knew something was different, that something was happening.” She explained, seeming proud of herself somehow. 

Nyssa could feel the heat coming from Sara, the energy that was flowing through her and it made her head swim. She knew why Sara was here, she knew what she wanted to happen. But before anything went any further, she needed to make sure that Sara had really stopped lying to herself. 

“Sara? What is it that you're doing here? What is it that you want?” She asked, her voice coming out far lower than she had intended. The smile that spread across Sara's face made an expected heat pool in Nyssa's stomach and her breathing grew heavy.

Sara stepped closer to her and Nyssa suddenly felt overpowered, her surprise at the other woman's forwardness was making her unsteady on her feet. Nyssa felt the door against her back before she even realized that she had taken a step back and then Sara was right there, in front of her and Nyssa could feel their breath mingling together. Then Sara’s hand was on her neck, sliding in her hair and she felt herself being pulled towards her.

Just before their lips met Nyssa heard Sara whisper “Just you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The feeling of being this close to Nyssa was like a drug. 

Once Sara had let herself realize what it was that she wanted, what she had always wanted, it seemed like an easy choice. She had taken her time getting back to Nyssa's house, she had needed to clean herself up first. There was no way that she wanted to see Nyssa again looking like she had cried herself sick. She had almost talked herself out of it a few times, and had turned the car around more than once. But once she was standing there in front of her in that doorway, she knew that she had made the right choice. 

The next thing she knew she had her hand in Nyssa's hair and they were kissing and her mind just stopped functioning. The feel of her, the taste of her, it was addictive. They took their time in the hallway, pressing each other against walls and corners, teeth and lips roaming freely. By the time they made it to Nyssa's bedroom they were both down to their panties and while Sara knew this should feel odd to her she couldn't for the life of her keep her hands off of Nyssa's hips. 

They fell onto the bed together, laying side by side, still making out. It felt like hours, just with them exploring and learning what each inch of skin tasted like, what spots caused what sounds. Sara was drunk on the smell of Nyssa's skin and the way she shuttered when Sara brushed kisses along her the underside of her breast. 

She could tell that Nyssa was taking things slow, not wanting to push Sara to far to fast and she felt a rush of adoration towards her for that. But she wanted nothing more than to explore every single part of her. She slowly kissed her way up her lover's body and nudged at her chin with her nose. Leaning into Nyssa's ear she asked her to stand. Nyssa turned her head to glance at her, confused but she just smiled to reassure her. Nyssa complied, and slid off of the bed to stand at the edge. Sara slid to the end, and sat there, her eyes level with Nyssa's chest and she smiled up at her. She ran her hands up Nyssa's legs, stopping when she came to the edge of her panties. She ran her fingers along the lace covered top and looked to Nyssa for permission. Once the brunette nodded at her she gripped the sides, and slowly pulled them down, her eyes never leaving Nyssa's. Once the panties hit the floor Nyssa stepped out of them and Sara scooted back on the bed, leaving room for Nyssa to crawl with her. Their lips came back together, Nyssa towering over her and Sara slid her hands over Nyssa's bare back, pulling her closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had originally intended to have the Laurel and Oliver confrontation in this chapter, but it didn't fit and I already had way too much happening here. I am also taking a different approach to how I am handling Sarah and Nyssa than I had originally planned. Let me know what you think.


	6. You Were the Song Stuck in My Head (Every Song That I've Ever Loved)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah needs to talk to her best friend, and Oliver finally has to face Laurel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not entirely happy with this one, but it is full of steps that needed to be taken. Next chapter will be a lot lighter on the angst. 
> 
>  
> 
> This will be the last update for a week or so, I will be heading to NYC this week for the CW Upfronts, (and hopefully meeting our favorite darlings while I'm there). But I will be posting two chapters the week after to keep up the momentum.

You Were the Song Stuck in My Head (Every Song That I've Ever Loved)

Chapter Six

June 21st

7am

Tommy could have thought of about 7 million ways that last night could have ended that would have been better than how it actually did. 

Like the house could have burned to the ground.

He could have contracted Ebola.

Between talking to his Dad and him losing it on Ollie, he had thought he had seen the worst of it. But when he had gotten to their room Laurel was just getting out of the shower and despite all of their problems, she could read him pretty well. So she had just kept pick, pick, picking until he snapped. 

He told her about Oliver and Felicity spending the day together, and about seeing Sara coming out of his room, her eyes red and swollen with tears. He told her about how distant Oliver had been since he had arrived, and how he had seemed so fake. 

He told her about his conversation with his Father and the demands that he had made. 

He told her how worried he was that everything was falling apart and how he didn't know if he could do it anymore. 

Now he was sitting on the front steps on the house, his bag at his side, waiting for the town car to arrive to take him to the airport. He hadn't bothered to shave, or make himself look the part of a billionaires son. He just didn't care anymore. He had been awake all night, laying next to Laurel after she had cried herself to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9am

All her life Laurel had been an early riser. She had always been the first one to the breakfast table as a kid, the first one sitting in front of the tree on Christmas morning, the first one in class. 

But this morning she couldn't find the motivation. 

Tommy had left hours ago and even though she had been awake they hadn't spoken. So she had just stayed in the same spot, staring at the same chip in the paint on the wall. 

“I don't know if I can keep doing this.”

That's what he had said. 

This.

Translation: he didn't know if he wanted to keep being in a relationship with someone who spent all of her time trying to find a reason to run. 

She had been playing at that so long that now he was the one with the reason to run.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity considered herself a pretty together person. 

Sure, she had her moments. 

She babbled a lot, she could turn anything sexual and had gone through a really questionable goth phase. But she had never really thought of herself has jumpy.

That was until she woke up and found her roommate/best friend laying six inches from her face, watching her sleep. 

The scream she wasn't overly proud off, but the fact that she didn't pee herself made her pretty happy.

“Dude!” She gasped, once she had stopped screaming. She wiggled herself into a sitting position squinting at Sara without her glasses. “What the frak are you doing in my bed?”

Sara acted as though she hadn't just nearly scared the piss out of her. “Morning to you too, sunshine.” The blonde teased as she rolled over, but made no effort to sit up or get out of the bed. 

“Sara!” She huffed, and turned to swat around on the nightstand to find her glasses. 

“Fine.” Sara muttered, and then pulled herself up to lean against the head board and that is when Felicity finally noticed that Sara wasn't in her normal sleepwear of an oversized shirt and flannel pants. In fact, when Felicity really looked at her, it looked like she was wearing one of the outfits that she had helped her pick out the day before. 

And it was all wrinkled. 

Felicity gasped before she could stop herself. 

She knew it! She knew that Nyssa had a thing for Sara.

And she knew that Sara had been spending a ton of time with her at the bar.

And she knew that the whole photo shoot thing was a date.

She could feel herself really excited and a babble was already forming when Sara seemed to notice the change.

“We need to talk. I um- I did something last night.” Sara started and Felicity could tell she was nervous, but she couldn't stop the snort. “Uh, yeah. No kidding.” Felicity said before she could stop herself. Sara glared at her, and shifted uncomfortably and Felicity felt awful.

“I'm sorry, sorry, forget that. I didn't say anything. Please, continue.” She said, rushing to fix her rudeness. Sara was staring at her hands and they stayed silent for a few minutes before her friend finally looked at her. Felicity could tell that Sara was struggling to come to terms with whatever had happened the previous night and so she chewed on her bottom lip to keep herself from talking. 

“Last night, after dinner at Nyssa's I um, we uh, we kissed.” Sara blurted out and Felicity forced herself to only nod in response. Encouraged by Felicity's non freak out she took a deep breath and continued. “And I didn't really handle it well. So I sort of ran. And I came back here and kinda forced Oliver to talk to me.” She finished, her eyes not leaving her hands the whole time. 

They sat there, once again in silence and Felicity was trying to catch up.

So Sara and Nyssa kissed. Sara, being the relationship-phobic person that she had turned into over the last five years had ran. Understandable. But she had ran to Oliver. 

Ran to Oliver. 

And now here she was, still in yesterdays clothes. 

With sex hair.

Suddenly Felicity felt like she was going to be sick. 

She schooled her face, slowed her breathing and tried really hard to not let it show that she was about to empty her stomach all over her bedspread. 

“You, uh, you talked to Oliver? That's um, that’s a good thing, right?” She asked, her words barely making it around the lump in her throat. 

Sara just nodded. 

Felicity told herself that she was only feeling this way because Oliver had hurt Sara before. He had hurt both of the Lance sisters. So she was simply worried about Sara getting hurt. That was all. Nothing else. No other reason why Sara and Oliver sexy time should bother her. 

She ignored the way her stomach rolled when she thought the words 'Sara and Oliver sexy time'. 

She cleared her throat and forced herself to remain casual. “So. You guys talked. How did it go?” She asked, picking at the thread of her shorts that suddenly became really interesting. 

She saw Sara tense beside her. “Well, 'talk' is the wrong word I guess.” She muttered and Felicity felt herself stop breathing. “Oh yeah?” She asked and hated how soft her voice sounded. 

“Yeah. I mean, I talked. He just sort of stood there. I didn't really give him much of a chance for feedback. I, um, I left Nyssa and I came straight here and waited in his room until he got back. I needed to see him. I was so confused. Had been so confused for so long. I thought that if I saw him that I would feel all of the things that I had convinced myself that I felt for him. I thought that seeing him would make everything with Nyssa disappear.” Sara paused and suddenly Felicity could breathe again. “But when I saw him it just made me sad.” 

Felicity scooted closer to Sara, and put her head on her best friend's shoulder. As much as she might night like the end of this story, she still needed to comfort her. She felt Sara’s head come to rest on the top of hers. “I realized that I had been lying to myself for a really long time. And the longer I looked at him to more I could see that we had just used each other as an excuse.” Felicity could feel Sara take a deep breath. “But, anyway we talked and then I left. I um, I wasn't really sure what I should do. But next thing I knew, I was back at Nyssa's.”

Sara was trying to keep her tone casual. Felicity could tell, it was the same tone Sara used whenever she ate something of hers out of the fridge. So she pulled away from Sara and turned to face her, her eyebrow cocked. “I knew it! You do have sex hair!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver was pretty sure that he was too old to be sneaking out of the house. 

But considering that he had gotten in a fight with his best friend, made a girl cry and was harboring a massive crush on his ex-girlfriends friend, he was already acting like a teenager so he might as well commit. 

He had barely slept at all after Tommy had left his room the night before, and while he was used to sleepless nights, this one was particularly hard. After hours of tossing and turning he had finally come to the conclusion that his best course of action was to just bail. 

So once he gave up on sleeping, and was more than sure that Tommy had left for the airport, he had packed what little he had brought with him. He paced around his room for a while, and debated saying goodbye to Felicity. He walked past her room, and as he was raising his hand to knock he heard her screech 'sex hair' and then thought better of it. 

It was for the best, leaving without a goodbye. She was the only thing that had kept him on this coast for this long anyway, and saying goodbye to her would only make him feel like more of an ass. So he walked past her room, down the stairs and was almost home free, his hand on the door when he heard someone walk up behind him. 

He had always had a weird freaky sixth sense when it came to Laurel Lance. It was almost like Kristen Bell with sloths. They had been together for so long that even after years apart he knew with even looking that she was behind him. 

Perfect timing. 

He shook his head with a small smile. He still had a hand on the door handle, and he knew that he could just pull and he would be able to get away. But instead he just stood there, his eyes closed and waited. 

“I'm guessing that's not laundry in your bag.” He heard from behind him and he smirked. 

Cute. 

He turned to face her and tried not to show how surprised he was. This was not the Laurel Lance that he knew and loved. She looked awful. She had obviously been crying all night. Her eyes were red and puffy, her hair a mess. She was wearing her pajamas still, and had obviously just crawled out of bed. She was trying to appear as though she wasn't ruffled by seeing him, but he could tell that both of their timing had just been off. She was clutching a huge mug of coffee in both hands and he knew that was the only thing keeping her calm. He could see the liquid sloshing around, she was shaking. 

“Yeah well, you know me, never one to stay in one place for too long.” He quipped and immediately regretted it. Not only did he sound like Ollie the douche but it also didn't even really make sense. He used to be a lot smoother than this.

She saw through it, of course. 

She rolled her eyes and walked past him, into the living room. His eyes followed her. She leaned onto the back of the couch and sniffed. “Tommy left.” She said simply and she could tell that it took a lot out of her. 

He squinted.

Definitely not his Laurel. 

He had seen her upset plenty of times. He had been the reason behind it more often then not, and she could get pretty angry, but this wasn't angry. 

This was...different. 

He couldn't remember her ever crying, not at the level that she had obviously been crying in the last few hours. And he honestly didn't think that she had been in pajamas past 7 am since she learned to walk. 

“I heard.” He said, keeping it simple. He could tell this was leading somewhere, and seeing as how this was the longest they had been in the same room in more than five years he figured he owed it to her to at least act like he wanted to be here. 

He thought for a second and then let his duffel drop from his shoulder and onto the floor. 

“It's your fault.” She said into her coffee cup. He smiled. 

“Yes.” He said, walking further into the living room from the foyer. 

“And mine.” She muttered, taking a sip.

“That's new.” He said and he could have sworn that she smiled a little. 

“We need to talk.” She said instead of responding to his comment. 

Yeah, he was definitely 16 again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara was not normally a skittish person. But the past 24 hours was really pushing her over the edge. 

Waking up with Nyssa had been really scary, Not just because it was Nyssa, but mostly because she had never had a 'morning after' with someone and the concept scared the hell out of her. So she had slipped out, leaving a note before Nyssa had woken up. 

Her first thought when getting back to the house was that she had to talk to Felicity. She needed to get her mind straight. She needed to talk to the one person that she knew would never judge her. But knowing it didn't make it her any less nervous. She knew that she needed to talk it out, but she was also terrified that the peace that she had found last night would come back to bite her in the ass. She knew that confronting her family with this change in her life would be huge, and she needed as much support beforehand as she could get. And she knew from experience that Felicity would be the support that she needed. 

So in keeping with the tradition of the weekend she decided to sneak into Felicity's room and wait for her to wake up. The irony of her sneaking out of one woman's bed and into other was not lost on her. 

It had been going as expected, a little tense, a lot of awkward pauses and a lot of confused looks. That is until in usual Felicity fashion, her best friend had yelled out the words 'sex hair' and from then on the conversation had been a lot less tense. 

They had been talking for over an hour now and they had gone from being half buried under the covers to now sitting on the balcony, their backs to the ocean, with their legs entwined. After they had stopped laughing over the 'sex hair' Felicity had pulled out her secret candy stash and they had been tossing skittles into each others mouths as she raved about Nyssa. 

And Felicity hadn't even batted an eye. There was no judgment, or questions, Felicity had just smiled and demanded to know everything. It felt so odd. For the first time in her life Sara was gushing about a date. About her love life, about a night that she had spent in bed with someone. 

For the first time since she woke up that morning, Sara felt the peace from the night before return to her, and she began to actually think that maybe she would be able to keep it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel was pretty proud of herself. 

Sure, she looked like hell and she was pretty sure that she smelled. But she had held her composure pretty well for a person that had literally run into her dreaded ex boyfriend as he was trying to skip town. Again.

But she knew that this was her last chance. She needed to see if she could get through this with  
Oliver, if she could stop seeing him and Tommy as the same. If she couldn't get over this then she would lose Tommy for good and she didn't know if she was ready for that. 

After Oliver had agreed that they needed to talk she had invited him down to the beach. The last thing that she needed was for Felicity or Sara to come downstairs in the middle of this. They both had awful timing. 

For some reason, standing in the sand, looking out at the water made this seem less stressful. It was still early enough in the day that the air was still cool and she took a deep breath and turned to Oliver. She could see what Tommy had been saying now. Oliver was different. He was closed off somehow. He was looking her in the eye but she wasn't really able to read him like used to. He walked and talked like Ollie, but he wasn't, something about him was gone.

“I know that you think that I'm mad at you.” She started and she had to bite her lip when he gave her his patented 'no shit' look. “And I was, for a really long time. I was mad at you and I was mad at Sara. Tommy, myself. I was mad for so long that I didn't even realize it when that anger turned into something else.” She said, the words just flowing out and she couldn't stop them. She tilted her head and him and then moved to sit down in the sand, once again grateful that this was a private beach and she didn't look like a nut to anyone for sitting on the beach in her pajamas. 

Oliver paused for a second and then joined her. Of course he looked totally at home in the sand, even with his leather jacket and jeans. The bastard. 

“I fact, I hated you. I hated Sara. I hated everything about us. I was so mad that I was able to completely diminish my role in the whole thing. Now don't get me wrong, I don't forgive you for what you did. I haven't even forgiven Sara. We've moved past it, but it will always be there. She was my baby sister and you were the man I was supposed to be able to trust. And the thought of the two of you together makes me sick. Still. And you should know that Sara told me that you didn't have sex. And she also told me that she was the one to initiate it. But that doesn't really change anything. Not for me.” She paused, her hand coming up to shield her eyes from the sun so that she could look at him. He was just sitting there, in front of her. He wasn't saying anything, he had no defense for himself, but he also wasn't hiding either. He had been watching her this whole time. The old Ollie would have been playing with his phone, or pulling at his clothes, something to occupy himself while she tried to initiate him into an argument. 

“But I need you to know that even though I haven't forgiven you, that I have come to realize that I'm not blameless. I was there, I knew who you were and I let it happen. You would cheat, I would yell and then we would break up. Then two months later we would start it all over again. I was just as responsible as you.” She looked at him and her heart stopped for a second. It had been easy to not be taken in by him when she first saw him this morning.

She hadn't seen him in five years and when she first laid eyes on him she didn't even recognize him. He was scruffy instead of clean shaven, he was in a plain t-shirt not a polo and his had cut off all of the horrible floppy hair. 

His eyes had been blank, his face giving off no emotion. 

He hadn't been her Ollie this morning.

He had been the asshole that had been sneaking around with her sister, the asshole that made Tommy leave. The asshole that was probably fucking her sister's best friend. 

But now he was looking at her and she could actually see the boy that she had loved. 

“Laurel-” He started and she held up her hand. He was Ollie again and she could read everything that he wanted to say in his eyes.

She knew that if apologized that it would ruin her stride. She needed to get through this. 

“You left.” She said quietly, her hand coming down to rest on her knee. He squinted at her again and she would tell that he thought it came out of left field. 

“You fooled around with my sister and then you left. You didn't just leave town, no you left the country. For five years. I was happy at first, that you weren't in my face everyday trying to get me to forgive you. But then I was angry, angry that you weren't there to make it better. You think the worse thing you ever did to me was to go on that boat with Sara. But really the worst thing you ever did to me was to get on that boat with your Dad.” 

“Laurel, I don't understand.” He said softly and she knew he wasn't playing dumb. He really didn't get it, and she didn't blame him. It had taken her a really long time to figure it out herself. She wasn't even totally clear on it until just now. 

“I have known you for almost my entire life. I have no memories that aren't wrapped up in you, Ollie. You’re like my very own Dawson, and you have no idea what it was like to be going through the worst time of my life and not to have my best friend.” She said and she suddenly felt lighter. He looked like she had punched him in the chest, but he wasn't trying to defend himself. “Because that's what you were. Above anything else, you were my best friend. Everything fell apart and you were gone, and I had no one.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver was more than a little surprised at how this was going. 

He had been prepared for yelling. For more crying. For name calling and arms waving and maybe even a slap or two. But this was just odd. She was calm and collected (which was typical Laurel), but she was also acting as though he wasn't the biggest prick on the planet. And that was not Laurel Lance behavior. 

He had planned on letting her say her piece, keeping the mask in place that he had perfected over the last few years, and then going about his way. But when she had told him that she was just as responsible for the disaster that was their relationship as he was, he had slipped. 

And now she was telling him that she had considered him her best friend. And that she needed him. 

His head was swimming.  
He had a lot of questions. And lot of stuff that he wanted to say. But he felt like anything he would say would just make it harder for her. So he just sat there and waited for her. 

She looked like she was remembering something and had a small smile on her face. She reached over and slapped his knee lightly. “Hey, do you remember the time you, me and Tommy skipped out of third period and you bribed Tommy's driver to take us to Coast City for the day?” 

He remembered that. It was one of the last good memories he had of them as a group before he and Laurel started dating. So he returned her smile and nodded. 

“Tommy threw you over his shoulder and ran out into the water. You were so mad because you were wearing your new suede jacket and he ruined it.” Oliver recalled with a laugh. Her smile grew and she nodded. “I loved that damn jacket.”

They sat there, their laugh tapering off. She looked out at the water and wiped a hand over her face. 

“I know that we changed.” She started, not turning to look at him. 

“Our entire dynamic changed when we got together, and it wasn't always good. In fact, mostly it was awful. When we were growing up, your antics were always kind of funny. I would roll my eyes, shove you away and then help you clean up the mess. I would sit between you and Tommy and dream of the day when you guys would meet the right person and grow up.” She smiled a little at that and he felt himself return it. Then she sighed. 

“But then you and me became us and suddenly I wanted to be the girl that made you grow up. I sunk so much energy into trying to make you into what I thought you should be.” Finally she looked at him and he couldn't look away. 

“What I thought we should be. I was in so deep that I couldn't see what I was doing to you or to myself. I was miserable and I was trying so hard to make it work. Everything was a mess and everything hurt. I loved you, but I hated us. And I was so convinced that if I just stuck it out and waited until you decided that you were ready, that everything would get better. I never stopped to think that maybe I wasn't ready. That we weren't and never would be. It always seemed like we made sense, you know? We grew up together, we were comfortable and everyone kept pushing us together. But we didn't work, did we? And it took me a really long time to realize that we weren't supposed to.” She finished, her eyes still meeting his and he knew that she had finally said what she needed to. He reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. 

“We were kids, Laurel.” He said softly, and she looked down. “We were so young and we let ourselves be coerced into something that neither of us were ready for. I was so busy doing every thing to piss off my parents that I never stopped to think that I was ruining your plans too. I was so concerned with keeping them from controlling everything that I didn't care that you were counting on the same plans they were.”

She looked up from the sand and met his eyes again. They just sat there for a few minutes and breathed. 

“I love him.” She said suddenly. 

He laughed. “Yeah, I kinda of figured. You didn't even shower this morning.” He said, as straight-faced as possible and for the first time in his life he saw Laurel blush.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3pm

Tommy had sent Felicity a text from the airport, so she was well aware that he had left for a few days. So when her and Sara had bounced down the stairs around mid day to hear Laurel in the kitchen, her laugh mixed with a masculine one it was a little surprising. 

It was even more surprising when they walked into the room to see her sitting at the bar while Oliver was cutting up stuff to throw in the blender for his smoothie. 

Felicity stopped just inside the kitchen and Sara grabbed her arm, they stood close together, heads touching. They stared and looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes. 

“And you thought you sleeping with the hot bartender was the strangest thing to happen in the last 24 hours.” Felicity whispered into Sara's ear and Sara yanked hard on her arm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day didn't get any less strange. 

Once the four of them got over the awkwardness that was being in the same room they had agreed to have a late lunch together. The very first group meal that Oliver had been included in. Sara kept shooting Laurel confused looks, and Felicity was torn between dying to know what had happened, and not really wanting to ask. But all in all it was a nice day. They kept the conversation very light and casual. 

After lunch, Sara and Felicity went down to the beach to hang out and gossip about what could have possibly have happened between Oliver and Laurel.

Laurel went to read by the pool and Oliver went into town to get away from his day of estrogen. 

As the afternoon turned into the night they all fell back into their familiar habits. Laurel, Sara and Felicity made dinner together and Oliver went for a ride. They all tried to act as though nothing had changed in the house but Felicity wasn't the only one to notice that night when Sara didn't leave to go to the bar.

She was, however the only one to wait up for Oliver to tap on her door. 

He never did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally the Laurel/Oliver confrontation. I went in a totally different direction with this than I planned. I feel the need to stress something, there will never be any Laurel and Oliver romantic implications in this story. They have a history, a history that is mostly friendship and after this they are going to be working on this.
> 
> Also, the next chapter is when Tommy comes back, and he won't be alone. The beach house is big enough for two Queens and someone really needs to make these people have some fun, they are on vacation after all.


	7. You're Just the Girl All the Boys Wanna Dance With (And I'm Just the Boy Losing Too Many Chances)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy comes back, a new Queen arrives, and Felicity is starting to feel a little left out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My trip to NYC was amazing, and exhausting. I did get to meet a lot of our favorites (Caity Lotz, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, etc) and got to see Emily and Stephen in person. It was surreal. 
> 
> I will be updating again either tonight (late) or tomorrow (late), because I cannot wait to begin the next stage of this story.

You're Just the Girl All the Boys Wanna Dance With (And I'm Just the Boy Losing Too Many Chances)

Chapter 7 

June 24th

7pm

She was standing there, her back resting against the counter beside the stove. It looked like she was cooking pasta, or at least stirring pasta anyway, one hand on the wooden spoon, the other holding a book to her chest. She had one leg bent, her foot on the cabinet door, her face buried in the book she was reading. He just took a moment to let his eyes run over her, she was dressed for bed already, he could tell, with her hair in a messy bun and her body swallowed in her oversized sweatshirt and flannel pajama pants. She either hadn't heard him slip into the kitchen, or was choosing to ignore his presence. 

He gave a little fake cough as he walked further into the room and he saw her right eyebrow rise over the top of her book. 

Yeah, she was totally ignoring him.

Fair enough. 

He had gone awol on her for several days now. The first night it hadn't been intentional. After his ride he had stayed out by the pool talking to his sister on the phone for over an hour and by the time he had made his way upstairs Felicity had gone to bed. He had been kind of relieved, he was dreading any questions about what had happened between him and Laurel and even Sara, and then he also felt a little guilty for feeling that way. And the next morning when he had gone downstairs to make his morning juice, Sara had been sitting at the counter, whispering into the phone to someone. She had hung up as soon as she spotted him, and they had proceeded to make awkward small talk. Afterward she had headed out to the beach, so to avoid any further forced conversation he went to the boardwalk for his morning workout. He had seen Felicity off and on throughout that first day, she was eating breakfast with Laurel when he came in from his swim, and then she was out tanning by the pool with Sara when he had gone out the back way to get on his bike to head into town. But both times they had barely exchanged casual waves. He told himself that he wasn't really avoiding her at first. They just hadn't really crossed paths yet, that was all. 

That first night, however, he admitted that he did avoid her. 

The evening had been spent as usual, the ladies made dinner and sat around for hours chatting and he had gone on his nightly ride. He came in to a quiet house, and he could see the light on in Felicity's room, and her balcony doors where open as he walked up the back walk. Instinctively he wanted to climb those now familiar stairs, and knock on her door and talk late into the night. But he knew that tonight wouldn't be the same. He knew there would be questions. Questions that he wasn't ready for, and not just the questions that she would have for him about Laurel and Sara. But questions that he had for himself. Questions about his feelings for her. And questions for her about her feelings for him. So he had stayed downstairs and watched TV until well past midnight, until he knew for sure that he would only be walking past closed doors to get to his room. 

 

The next day he stepped up his avoidance game. He switched his morning routine up to only run on the boardwalk in town, and his laps were done in the pool since he now had a little more excess to the house during the day. He had also been waiting to head up to bed each night, not walking past her room until he saw her light go out. It was an asshole move, he knew that. But while he had somewhat made up with Sara, and Laurel could be in the same room as him, he knew that he was still treading a dangerous line with Felicity. 

Before he had been able to convince himself that he had it under control, but when Tommy had called him out on it, he realized how far gone he really was. So once he had accomplished everything else that Tommy had asked of him, he figured he should go all the way and not get himself into trouble with the remarkable Ms. Smoak. That had been easier said than done, however. 

It was Wednesday now, Tommy was due back tonight, but Oliver was starting to feel his three days without Felicity. It felt like a lot longer if he was honest with himself. So when he had walked into the kitchen and saw her there he didn’t fight the smile that broke out onto his face. He knew that Laurel was on her way to the airport to meet Tommy, hoping to surprise him. And that Sara was wherever it was she always disappeared to at night, so technically they had the house to themselves. 

He was fighting the smile on his face, chewing at his cheeks as Felicity steadfastly ignored him, and made his way to the fridge. He opened the door and started pulling out everything he needed for his dinner, not looking at her. She never looked up from her book, and never stopped her constant stirring of her pasta as he started chopping onions. He searched his mind for something meaningless to talk to her about, going through their past conversations in his mind. He had just moved on slicing the chicken breasts into thin strips for his fajitas when it hit him. He smiled to himself and turned his body halfway towards her, still slicing and spoke. “Hey, I um watched some of that show you told me about. The one about that superhero that Ben Affleck played? The blind one?”

Silence.

Finally he heard her quietly mutter something that sounded a lot like “He speaks” into the pages of her book. 

“Excuse me?” He asked, pretending he didn't hear her.

She finally looked up, her hand no longer stirring, and she brought her book down. “Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking to myself that I had begun to believe that my days as Oliver Queen's personal boredom killer was over. My mistake.” At that she smiled sardonically and pulled her book back to her face and he felt a flush come over him. 

Ouch.

He knew that he deserved it. Considering that he had just stopped all communication, but he couldn't help give as good as he got. He turned from his dinner prep and leaned his hip on the counter, crossing his arms over his chest, titling his head to the side to look at her. 

“Is that you're way of saying you missed me?” He asked, his patented 'Ollie Queen' smirk firmly in place. 

She didn't even look up from her book. “If that's what you want to take away, then sure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara was pretty sure that she was dreaming. 

Do dreams last for days?

Do dreams feel this amazing?

This scary?

She had always been a dreamer. Not in the same was as her sister, of course. She had never had huge aspirations of some fancy career. Sara had always been a literal dreamer. She would fall asleep and spend the entire night immersed in some alternate world. Sometimes she was lost at sea, or on some far away island with no one to save her. Other times she was an assassin, dressed all in leather and taking out bad guys all over the world. So she was used to being swept away into other worlds, and she was starting to think that this was another one of those worlds.

It was too vivid, to colorful, too amazing.

Too overwhelming. 

She had left Nyssa's house they morning after their night together and she hadn't been entirely sure if she would ever return. But then she had talked to Felicity, and not only had Felicity been happy for her, she had also shown no surprise at all. She wasn't even slightly phased over Sara’s feeling for another woman. Her reaction at made Sara feel like maybe it was okay to feel the way she did. It went beyond acceptance, it was like there was nothing to even accept. 

And then she has seen Laurel and Oliver together. They weren't fighting, they were avoiding each other, they were being civil. It was still a little awkward, of course, but they seemed like they were miles ahead of where Sara ever imagined they would be. 

It all felt so mature and adult and it made Sara feel a way that she had never felt before. The only word she could come up with to describe it was safe. 

So when she had gotten up the next morning, after spending the bulk of the night starring at her ceiling, she had gone downstairs and called Nyssa. At first she had worried that it was too early, that Nyssa would still be asleep after working at the bar the night before. And then when Nyssa answered Sara panicked, afraid that she would be angry for leaving the previous morning and avoiding her for a day. But instead she greeted Sara warmly, asking her how her day had been and they talked about their plans for the day. And Sara had agreed to come by Nyssa's place before she was due for her shift at the bar, so that they could have a late lunch. 

That late lunch had turned into an early dinner, which had turned into Nyssa being late for her shift, but neither of them could manage to care. Sara had gone home long enough to shower and pick at dinner with Laurel and Felicity that night, but then had went to the bar. That had become her routine for the last few days. She would arrive at Nyssa's house for what was intended to be lunch, but would always turn into a few hours of whispered words, kisses, gentle touching and moans echoing through the house. 

It all seemed way too easy and she couldn't help but feel that she had never woken up, that she was still in her bed the morning of the photo shoot. 

But she knew deep down that this couldn't be a dream, not really, it was reality. Because despite her happiness, she had this weight sitting on her chest that grew every time Laurel asked her where she was running off to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel had never been an overly affectionate type of girlfriend. 

Even when she had been with Ollie, her first 'real love' she had been very put together. That was how she was raised. 

She wasn't the type of girlfriend to make special efforts, to go above and beyond to make her partner smile. She wasn't cold hearted, but she never really felt comfortable expressing emotions in an overt way. She was cool, calm and collected and she liked it that way. 

But four days ago when Tommy Merlyn had walked out of their shared bedroom with a suitcase in his hand, she had felt afraid. Afraid like she never had in her life. Even with Ollie, the countless times their relationship had imploded, she had always known that something would happen and they would just fall back together. It was meant to be. But it wasn't. She knew that for sure now. She was at peace with the fact that her and Oliver would never have a life together. But with Tommy that thought scared the hell out of her. She had been fooling herself for two years. Or was it longer? She loved him and the thought that he could walk away from her made the air leave the room. So she had made the gesture. She had talked to Oliver, she was working with him to get past all of the damage that they had done to each other. And for the first time in five years she didn't have a ball of hate sitting in her gut and it felt nice. But once that hate was gone, it was taken over by fear. 

Would that gesture be enough to fix her and Tommy? Or was it too late? Had she already kept him at a distance for too long? She wasn't sure. So that afternoon when he had texted her to let her know what time his flight was coming in, and that he had a surprise with him, she had decided it was time for her to make another gesture. So she had taken a cab to the airport, wanting to be there to surprise him when he arrived. Not the most cost efficient idea ever, seeing as how far away the airport was, but so far she wasn't having any regrets. 

She just hoped that wouldn't change.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity had known that Oliver Queen was supposed to be a jerk. That had been made clear to her, but after getting to know him a little she had started to doubt the sources. Especially considering they hadn't been exposed to him in half a decade. 

But over this past week she had started to see where they were coming from. 

He was a jerk. 

And his face was stupid. 

Ever since Sara had come into her room the previous weekend, and told her about her talk with Oliver, Felicity had started to think a little more about him. Not in the 'oh you're kinda cute and like for me to keep you company when I’m sweaty' kind of way. But more in a 'wow drama follows you like a bad smell' kind of way.

Not that he smelled bad.

Quite the opposite. 

But that was beside the point. He was a jerk. She had been prepared to spend the entire summer with him, Sara and Laurel avoiding each other, with her being his only company besides Tommy. She had gotten used to the tension between Oliver and the female population of the house. But then he had gone and done something with the Lance sisters and now suddenly the house dynamic had changed. Now she was the only female on the outs with his stupid face.

Which would have been fine, of course, it wasn't like she really cared about him. But now Sara was always with Nyssa and Felicity only saw her for like an hour a day, and Laurel was acting bizarre. So Felicity was pretty much on her own for most of the day. 

She was starting to wonder if she had developed some sort of skin disorder that was only visible to other people. 

That would have been preferable, of course to the actual problem. She had been wondering why Oliver had taken to her so quickly, and now she had her answer. She was his only option, and now that he had both Lance sisters on his side he had no use for her. He had his entertainment.

That would also explain why he was now in the kitchen, trying to make needless conversation with her. Both Lance sisters were gone for the night, so she was his only option. 

Yippee.

He was smirking at her. She could tell, even though she was starring at her book so hard that she was sure the page was about to catch fire. He was smirking at her with that stupid mouth. And laughing that stupid laugh. 

Gross. 

“Whatcha reading?” He asked and she fought the urge to roll her eyes. 

His stupid voice was stupid. 

She frowned. Maybe she was regressing. What grade was she in again?

Instead of answering him she pulled the book up a little and let him read the cover.  
Why was her pasta taking so long to cook? Isn't that the advantage of pasta? That it cooks fast enough to get you out of the kitchen? 

She sighed. 

She stirred the pot a little more and waited for him to attempt more lame conversation but he didn't. They stood in an uncomfortable silence for about another ten minutes as she drained her ziti and dumped the jar of sauce right onto the steaming pasta, not wanting to stick around long enough to heat it separately. 

With her bowl of pasta in her hand she walked from the kitchen slowly, telling herself that she was just that absorbed in her book. She ignored the fact that she had been reading the same line over and over since Oliver had walked into the kitchen.

Stupid book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy was pretty much over this week.

He had just spent three days in meetings with his Dad, discussing his 'future' with the family company, the future that was never going to happen. And to top it all off, now he was freaking out, because he was even more nervous this time around as the plane touched down. 

When he had arrived a few weeks ago he had been nervous to spend so much unscheduled time with Laurel, and to see Oliver again after so long. Now, he was nervous because this was their last chance, Before he had been able to convince himself that he could possibly be happy having only part of Laurel. He now knew that wasn't possible. He needed it all. He just wasn't entirely sure that she even had it all to give him anymore. She had buried some much of herself in the hate and regret from their past. 

He might just lose her for real this time. And he didn't know what he would do if that happened, because if he had learned anything over the past few weeks, it was that his best friend was already lost to him. The Oliver Queen that had come back from Hong Kong was not the same one that had left 5 years ago, no matter how hard he tried to pretend he was. 

So, yeah, Tommy was pretty damn nervous. 

His fellow passengers weren't really helping him, either. 

He turned his head to throw a glare back at the couple sitting behind him, the girl sitting in her boyfriend's lap her face permanently attached to his. Those two had been making out pretty much since they had boarded in Starling and considering he had known her since she was in pullups, Tommy was pretty grossed out. 

“Hey, lovebirds. We're here. Care to detach and join the outside world?” He asked as he rose from his seat and started to make his way to the door that his flight crew had opened for them. 

Thea Queen reluctantly pulled away from her boyfriend, Roy Harper and turned to him, as dazed smile on her face and rolled her eyes when she saw the look on his face. 

“Oh come on, bro. Give us a break, this is our first big trip as a couple. I bet you and Laurel are just as gross.” She teased as she rose from Roy's lap and pulled him behind her. 

Tommy's stomach clenched and he shook his head as he walked down the steps of the plane“God, I hope not.” He muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nyssa shot a wink over at the blonde sitting at her usual stool at the end of the bar. Tonight was unusually busy for a Wednesday, even in the Summer, and she had been so busy that she and Sara hadn't really had the chance to talk tonight. 

Not that had done a whole lot of talking the past few days anyhow. Well they had talked, but nothing of substance. Mostly just whispered confessions as they lay tangled in the sheets of Nyssa's bed. Not that Nyssa was complaining, really. She was having and amazing time with Sara. But she also felt like something was missing, something huge. 

And if they didn't figure it out soon, it would only get bigger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Tommy had said that he was bringing a surprise, she had expected a scarf. Or maybe flowers, or some of that cheesecake she loved from the bakery down the street from her Dad's apartment.

Not Oliver's little sister and her street thug boyfriend. 

The street thug boyfriend that seemed way too at home in his red hoodie and 'don't fuck with me' jaw clench. 

Laurel sighed as she watched the trio walk though the terminal, waiting for Tommy to notice her. Thea Queen had certainly grown up since Laurel had last visited Starling. She had always been a looker, with classic Queen good genes. She was tall and willowy, with porcelain skin and sharp features. She had chopped off her long wavy brunette locks, Laurel noticed, opting instead for a messy bob that made her look a lot older than her 18 years. 

Laurel hadn't really kept in touch with the younger Queen. They had never really been close, mostly due to the age difference and Laurel had been much too bitter to socialize with anything to do with Oliver up until now. But Laurel had heard through her Father about the legal troubles that Thea had gone through over the last few years, after the death of Robert. Thea had apparently taken to drugs and late night joy rides to deal with her suddenly smaller family unit and had nearly killed herself in the process. From what she had come to understand, Thea had been forced into community service last year and had meet Roy Harper while picking up trash on the Highway. Roy was doing time for pickpocketing and fighting, and apparently he had been a good influence on the socialite. Surprisingly enough he had kept her clean for the last year, and she had done the same for him. At least, according to Captain Lance, and that was saying something, considering how little he believed in rehabilitation among criminals. 

Apparently Tommy had kept in better touch with the Queen family than Laurel had thought. She wasn't sure what bothered her more about that, that he had kept his relationship with Thea a secret, or that he had felt the need to. 

But all thoughts of that flew from her mind as soon as he spotted her. She stood there, a huge smile on her face and watched the play of emotions on his face. He looked so tired walking through the airport, and she knew it was from dealing with Malcolm. But as soon as she saw her his face lit up in a smile, then faded into confusion and then worry. But when she started walking towards him, her arms out to hug him, the smile returned. 

They met each other half way, perhaps for the first time in their relationship, and hugged tightly. They stayed in that embrace for what felt like both seconds and hours at the same time to Laurel. As he started to pull away she gave a final tight squeeze and stepped back. She looked him over and laughed. 

“You look handsome.” She teased, looking at his wrinkled business suit, the shirt untucked.

He smiled wickedly and nodded “I try not to. It just happens.” Then leaned over to give her a quick kiss. 

Laurel pulled away from the kiss at the gagging sounds coming from behind her. Thea stood there, attached literally at the hip to Roy, her arm around his shoulder and rolled her eyes. She shot a pointed look at Tommy and teased “See. Gross.”

Laurel looked to him in confused and he just shook his head. “Laurel, you remember Oliver's more annoying half, Thea? And this striking young man attached to her is Roy Harper. They snuck on board as I was headed out of town and I just didn't have the heart to kick them out mid air. I regretted that after listening to them exchange fluids for the past few hours.” Tommy said, looking a little green. 

Laurel quickly retracted the hand that she had offered to Roy and grimaced. “Lovely.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11pm

Felicity had managed to absorb more than one sentence of her book once she was away from Oliver. She was sure that was just because she wasn't as annoyed sitting on her balcony as she was when being smirked at. That was the only reason. 

She was just finishing up said book when she heard a loud screech coming from below. She sat the book down quickly beside her (3rd, 4th, maybe 5th) glass of wine and jumped up to look over the railing to see what animal was being attacked by the pool. 

She looked down wildly to see that it wasn't an animal, in fact it was Oliver. He was standing by the pool, still in his motorcycle jacket and boots and there was a person attached to him. Well, wrapped around him. A girl, Felicity gathered because of her hair and boobs and young, if the screech was any indication. 

She pulled away from the railing with a frown. 

Great, just what she needed, another girl taking up Oliver's attention in the house. 

It was past her bed time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver was pissed. 

Well, as pissed as he could be when his little sister was literally wrapped around his waist. 

“Thea?!” He attempted to shout, but he hair got caught in his mouth and he choked a little. 

But it was a manly choke. 

Finally after she had her fill, his sister dropped down from his waist, coming to stand in front of him, a giant smile on her face. 

He had about six million questions about what she was doing here, when he knew for sure that she was supposed to be in New York for a summer internship before starting college in the fall. But as she stood there, looking so much like the 12 year old little girl that he had reluctantly left behind all those years ago, he couldn't help but return her smile, just a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nyssa and Sarah didn't play a huge part in this chapter, but mostly because their relationship is at a standstill right now. Next few chapters that will change.


	8. Anything You Say Can Be Held Against You (So Only Say My Name)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thea and Felicity meet, Laurel and Tommy finally talk and Roy is pretty hot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really intended to post this the day after my last update. But as I was posting the last chapter, my store was being flooded. So this week has been a nightmare, but here it is. I will try to post again this week, before Saturday but no guarantees.

Anything You Say Can Be Held Against You (So Only Say My Name)

Chapter 8

June 25th

7am

Wine had always been her friend. 

But like most of her other friends on this trip, it was letting her down. 

Felicity groaned as she rolled over in bed and the bright morning sun shone right in her face, making her regret that she hadn't fallen off the balcony last night in her stupor. 

She had intended to go to sleep after seeing Oliver with a tiny brunette attached to his waist, but her glass kept magically filling itself. As she buried her head into the covers she knew that the only thing that would help her recover would be a greasy omelet and a looooong soak in the hot tub. 

As well as avoiding any other humans that would speak, or breathe in her presence. She slowly pulled herself from the bed and managed to wash her face and change into her bathing suit without puking, which she considered a huge accomplishment. As she started to head from the room she spotted her sunglasses on the dresser and decided that she was moving around early enough that no one would be around to see her sporting them in the house. 

She took her time walking down the stairs and made her way to the kitchen, hoping someone had left the blinds shut the night before. 

But, of course, once she walked into the kitchen she found that it wasn't the sunshine that would cause her to heave. Because she wasn't alone in the kitchen, there was Oliver, in all of his shirtless glory and like her, he wasn't alone either. There she was, the tiny brunette, her hip on the counter and her elbow leaning on Oliver's shoulder as he flipped a pancake, and she was laughing like he was just the funniest guy on the planet. 

Felicity felt her stomach roll.

And then, because she was her and this was her special circle of hell, she stumbled and made just enough noise to draw attention to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she had run into Tommy in Starling she had known something was up. He had been pretty cagey ever since Oliver had skipped town, but that day he had seemed even more so. So she had bullied him into buying her a greasy lunch a Big Belly and after some not so clever questions she had gotten him to spill his guts. 

He had seemed so lost that she couldn't help but take pity on him. She had literally known Tommy her entire life, and considered him every bit her brother that Ollie was. So she had invited herself on his little vacation, along with Roy, because well there was no way she was going to spend the next few weeks in a bikini and not have Roy with her. 

Tommy had protested at first, not realizing how stubborn Queen women could be, but she hadn't taken no for an answer. And he couldn't really deny her anyway, especially when she and Roy were already seated on his plane when he had arrived. 

She was happy to help. She wasn't really sure what she could do exactly, but she was working on that. She hadn't seen Laurel in years, and her and Sara had only ever really talked in passing so there wasn't really a connection for her there. But she did have a hold on Ollie that no one else could revival and being apart for 5 years couldn't really change that. She could convince him to talk to Laurel and Tommy, and open up to them. She could maybe even get him to mend things with Sara, and help fix anything still broken between the Lance sisters. 

If all else failed, she could at least be a pretty good distraction for her brother and keep him away from this Felicity girl. 

She knew that Oliver was a little suspicious of her presence at the beach house. But despite how weary he was of her being there last night he couldn't hide how happy he was to see her. Thea had traveled to Hong Kong a few times over the years to see him, mostly for birthdays and the occasional Queen family charity event, but they had still been apart far more than they had liked. This vacation promised an uninterrupted stretch of time together before she started school again and he took his new position at QC. 

She had been so stoked to start spending time with him that she had been sitting in the hall across from his room, waiting for him to wake up. Her first thought when she had gotten out of bed that morning was to go into his room to pull him from bed, but she thought better of it considering some of Tommy's suspicions. She hadn't ever known him to get out of bed before noon, so she was pleasantly surprised when he popped his head out of the room at 6. She had dragged him, shirtless and disoriented, downstairs to the kitchen immediately, demanding he make her pancakes and bacon. 

So that's what he was doing, and being so grumpy about it that she couldn't help but laugh at his sour mood. She couldn't help but stay close to him, trying to get to know him now, with them both as adults. He wasn't looking down on her anymore, they were eye level for the first time, and she wasn't just his little speedy now. 

That was how they were discovered, her leaning into him, laughing at him and his old man grumpiness and him trying not to smile at her. She didn't hear the blonde girl come into the kitchen at first, she must have been there for a few minutes when Thea heard her stumble, because she was halfway to the fridge. 

Thea slapped her brother on the shoulder, and tilted her chin in the direction of their intruder and when Oliver noticed her his whole body tensed. 

Hmmm.

Thea didn't react to the girl at first, just let her eyes wash over her. She was clearly hungover, since she was wearing sunglasses and a drunken ponytail at 7am and was stumbling through the kitchen in a bright pink bikini and nothing else. It had been years since Thea had seen Sara, but she knew for a fact that this wasn't the blonde Lance sister, so she was at a loss for who it could possibly be. 

Knowing her brother though, her first thought was that he had failed to mention that he had a guest in his room this morning. She slit her eyes between her brother and the hot mess in front of them. The girl hadn't moved since she had been discovered and Thea wondered if she was scared, or just embarrassed. 

“And just who do we have here?” Thea asked, pulling away from Oliver and leaning her whole body against the counter, arms crossed, facing the newcomer. She felt her mean girl coming on and felt no need to stop it. The other woman flinched, and finally pulled the sunglasses from her face and slid them onto the top of her head. She shifted her eyes to Oliver, but when he didn't turn to look at her again she quickly looked back at Thea. 

“Felicity. Smoak.” The blonde spoke, her voice a little harsh from sleep.

Thea couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity had dealt with a lot of bitches in her life. She had been born and bred in Vegas for fucksake. But she had never had to deal with one hungover, and one who was clearly challenging her over a guy that Felicity wasn't even sure she wanted. 

And insults she could take. But this wasn't exactly an insult, this sudden laughter that was coming from the striking brunette, but Felicity sure as hell felt insulted. 

At this point the brunette was cracking herself up, she was bent over and despite the fact that her hand covered her mouth she couldn't keep the laughter in. Seeing the look on Felicity's face, the other woman tried to pull herself together and started walking towards her. She shook her head and held a hand up in a defensive gesture. 

“Oh, no, wow, I'm sorry, but you're Felicity?” The woman said, choking on her laughter.

Felicity cocked her eyebrow and tried not to sway when another wave of nausea hit her in the stomach. This new girl knew who she was, or at least thought she did, and for the life of Felicity she couldn't figure out why that would cause her to laugh. And to be honest, she wasn't really sure that she wanted to know. What exactly had Oliver told this woman?

“I'm not really sure how that's funny.” Felicity heard herself saying and she was proud that she sounded matter of fact and not like she had just thrown up in her mouth a little. 

The other woman cracked up again and her smile took over her whole face. 

“Oh, it is. I'm just thinking that Laurel must really hate you.” She said, totally ignoring the shirtless man at the stove now, the one who was trying very hard to pretend nothing was happening behind him. 

Felicity felt her cheeks heat up and her heart start to pound in her ears. 

“Excuse me?” She asked, incredulous.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thea was about to pee herself, this was just perfect. 

She knew who Felicity was. She had heard Tommy speak of her on occasion over the last couple of years. She knew that they were really close and that he used her as his surrogate best friend, since Oliver was m.i.a. and now that she was seeing her, Thea couldn't believe her eyes. 

Not only was Tommy playing with fire with inviting Laurel, Sara and Oliver into the same house, but he had also befriended what she could tell was quite the stunner (when she wasn't hungover). No wonder Laurel and Tommy were having issues, and Oliver was having a hard (ew) time keeping it in his pants. 

Thea felt herself smirk and she gave another little laugh. “Well, you know,” she started in a matter-of-fact way “pretty little blue-eyed blondes tend to snatch her billionaires away. So I'm sure that she just loathes how close you and Tommy are.”

She was crossing so many lines, and she knew that. But if this woman expected to make it out alive this summer, then she should be able to take it. This was a really messed up group of people and the weak would never survive. Thea felt a little thrill in her chest when the blonde, Felicity, stood a little taller and finally seemed present in the discussion. 

Felicity walked towards her, the women now having only a kitchen island in between them.

“Well, not that Laurel and I, or Tommy and I are any of your business, considering you haven't even told me who you are.” Felicity said pointedly with a raised brow. Then she continued, “But I'll humor you, Laurel and I had a rough start, but we moved past it once she realized that I had no interest in her 'billionaire',” and then she threw a quick glance at Oliver's stiff back “or anyone else's for that matter.” She finished, her face flushed. 

Thea fought back a smile at that. So, Ms. Smoak wasn't just a pretty face. “Interesting.” She said out loud, without realizing it. She looked over her shoulder at her brother and then back to Felicity, holding out her hand. “I'm Thea Queen, by the way.” She said, still holding her hand out. Felicity finally took it, and gave it a very limp shake. “And I make a terrible first impression, but I'll grow on you.” She finished, no longer holding back her smile. 

“Like a fungus?” Felicity asked, her eyes wide with a false innocence. 

Thea knew that she deserved that so she just nodded and laughed. “Something like that.”

Felicity nodded, accepting Thea's white flag and then looked towards the fridge, but the stopped and turned back to Thea. 

“Wait, Queen?” She asked, bewildered.

Thea smiled big and leaned back to swat at Oliver's back. 

“Yep, I'm Ollie's sister. The younger and more attractive sibling, of course.”

Thea filed away the sudden look of relief on Felicity's face for later use.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9am

Laurel had been a little surprised when her and Tommy had gotten back to the house. She expected talking, a lot of it. She expected arguing and angst and crying. Because despite the fact that she had never been a crier, she had certainly shed a lot of tears this week. 

But once they got home from the airport last night, after quite the annoying car ride back, he had simply bid Thea and Roy goodnight and had pulled her upstairs to their room. They hadn't spoken at all, and as soon as the door was closed he had slowly stripped her, then himself and then had worked her body into a slow burning frenzy over and over until the sun had started to fill the room. 

They had finally fallen asleep around 6, so entangled in each other that Laurel couldn't tell whether it was her elbow digging into her hip or his. Either way it was really bugging her and she had been laying awake for the past half an hour starring at the laugh lines around Tommy's eyes. She knew that she should just moved a few inches, adjust her position and then try to sleep for a little while longer, but she couldn't bring herself to disturb the little cocoon they had created. 

They were good like this. Everything had always worked best for them in bed. It was when they got out of bed that words and feelings got in the way. She knew that it couldn't last though, that eventually Tommy would wake up and they would have to finish the talk they had started before he left. And while she knew that he would be happy that her and Oliver had finally talked, and had managed to not kill each other, he would still feel the same. And she had to come up with her answers before his eyes opened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver knew that he was being the biggest coward in the world. 

He could have handled Thea and Felicity's meeting a lot better than he had. But he knew his sister well enough to know that if she had seen him look at and speak to Felicity that she would have known immediately that he was a goner. So he had let is all play out without his input. He had known, of course that Felicity could hold her own against anyone, including his sister. 

And he had been right. She had been a little off her game, most likely due to the hangover that he was more than a little curious about, but she had still made Thea smile. That wasn't always the easiest thing to do. 

After the little go 'round between the two of them, Felicity had simply poured herself some orange juice and headed out back to soak in the hot tub while he and Thea finished making breakfast. Well, while he finished making it and Thea watched him, and quizzed him about Felicity. 

He was finally able to deter her questions when he mentioned that he and Laurel had talked. That was enough to distract her for a while anyways. He told her all about the talk that he and his ex had on the beach, and how the last few days had been filled with an awkward tension, but nothing compared to his first few weeks at the house. 

Now they were walking down the beach, the only workout that he would probably get that day, and Thea was explaining her plans for the summer.

Apparently, Moria had pulled a few strings and gotten Thea an internship in NYC, hoping that a summer apart from Roy would cause Thea to rethink the relationship. She had also been pushing Thea into attending NYU in the fall, on the guise that they had a fantastic Design program. But Thea knew that her Mother was less interested in her major than she was in her social life. So she had pulled a few strings of her own and had gotten out of the internship. But she still hadn't told their Mother that she had enrolled in the business program in Central City, which is coincidentally also where Roy had gotten a scholarship. 

That was another reason that she had jumped on the chance to get out of town for a few weeks, less chance that Moria could ask her questions. 

The conversation was starting to wind down a little, and Oliver was searching his mind to come up with something else to distract her. 

But, as usual, she was faster than him. 

“So,” She started and he groaned a little “You and Laurel are speaking, Sara isn't drooling over you anymore and you have a sassy little blonde sleeping next to you every night.” She teased, her shoulder bumping into his, knocking him off balance a little. 

“I wouldn't say she sleeps next to me, Speedy. We do have separate rooms, you know.” He responded, returning her shoulder bump.

She scoffed “Technicalities.” 

They walked along in silence for a few more minutes and she sighed. “You like her.”

He didn't answer. He knew he didn't need to.

“You like her. She obviously isn't indifferent to you. I mean, I was around her for like five minutes but she wasn't subtle, she looked ready to stick her tongue out at you and pull your hair.” At this she walked a little a head of him and turned to face him, holding out her arms to stop him. She ducked her head to look at him and he sighed. 

“Yeah, I like her. I mean, she's sweet and funny and nice. And even when she's hungover she is beautiful. And, Thea you have no idea how smart she is. She started grad school at 19. Who does that? And she talks, like all the time. She just goes on and on and it should be annoying but it's actually kind of endearing.” He trailed off when he saw the smirk on his sister's face and sighed. Now he was babbling. 

“So, you really like her. Like really. So why is she mad at you? What did you do?” She asked him and with the disappointed look on her face she look so much like their Mother that he flinched. 

“I didn't do anything.” He insisted and then signed when she rolled her eyes at him. “I mean, not directly. I just did what Tommy asked me to do. I guess he could tell that I was starting to really like her. So he told me to quit it. So I just stopped spending so much time with her.” He told her, ducking his head.

“So, you just stopped hanging out with her? Did you tell her why? Did you tell her it was because it bothered Tommy?” He could tell by her glare that she already knew the answer to her question so he just shrugged. 

He felt like he was justified in his very manly “Ow!” when she whacked him on the back of the head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11am

Tommy knew that she was starring at him. He had been laying there, quiet for the past twenty minutes, and he knew that she was awake and looking at him. He was way to content to just stay here, wrapped up in her so tightly that it was almost uncomfortable and enjoy the peace and quiet. 

But then he felt Laurel take her forefinger and slowly start to run it along his forehead and the bridge of his nose. He felt himself smile in response and the soft sound of her giggle made his chest swell pleasantly.

“Faker.” She whispered to him, but with her closeness he heard her perfectly. 

His smile grew bigger and when she leaned over to kiss him she got mostly teeth and that made them both burst into laughter. He adjusted his position so that they weren't laying side by side anymore, and pulled her so that she was mostly on top of him. They had fallen asleep so soon after making love this morning that she hadn't had a chance to slip into a night shirt, like usual, so she was still totally bare to him. His eyes soaked her in, her messy hair and wide eyes, her skin still pink from being pressed against him. 

There had been so many times over the last few years that he wanted to tell her how much he cared for her. That he loved her. But he had always known that it would end badly. So he had always just kept it to himself. But this morning, he was surrounded by her. He was covered in her smell, her scent had soaked into his skin and the sheets, her hair was plastered to his chest, caught underneath the elbow that she was using to prop herself up with. And he couldn't think of anything else in the world that he wanted more than to tell her how he felt, and to see her eyes when he did.

He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to do just that when she seemed to come to decision and her hand popped out from under her chin and she put two fingers over his lips to keep him quiet. 

“I spoke with Oliver.” She told him, her voice still harsh from sleep and he felt like she had poured ice down his back. He wanted to ask so many questions but she still had her fingers pressed against his half-opened mouth so he kept quiet. 

She closed her eyes and sighed, and then looked down on him again. “I heard you. I need you to know that. I heard what you said and you were right. You have given me so much. You have always been there for me. I spent so much time mourning what I lost with Oliver that I totally ignored the fact that you were there too. I was so devastated when he left, because I lost my best friend, so devastated that I totally but off my other best friend. And then you became something more. And as hard as you pushed, as much as you gave yourself to me I just couldn't accept it. I know that you have always thought that I couldn't love you because I still loved Oliver. But that's not true. The only reason that I could never commit to you like you needed was because I couldn't separate the two of you in my mind. To me, when he hurt me, you did too. And I couldn’t go through that again.” She took a breath and her eyes were wet. He just laid there, her fingers on his lips, in stunned silence. 

He had been waiting for this moment to happen for almost two years. 

“But I know that I've been lying to myself for a while now. Because I know that you and Oliver are different. That you've changed so much and that this, us, is different. I was just too stubborn admit it. But then this week, when you left I knew that I couldn't keep putting it off anymore. So I talked with Ollie and I finally faced up to my part in it all.” She said with a huff and then her eyes weren't just wet anymore, now there were tears steadily pouring down her face and hitting his chest. He wanted to hold her, to reassure her but with her on top of him, his arms were pinned and he couldn't bring himself to move her. 

“And this has all been one long dramatic, needless way of saying that I love you, Tommy.” She whispered, her voice rough. 

He stopped breathing and then she wasn't the only one crying. 

“I love you, Tommy and I just really need to this be okay. I need us to be okay. Because I am so tired of not being okay. I am so tired of being in this never ending circle of drama. I love you, and I need that to be enough.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel felt pretty gross. 

She was all snotty and had a pool of her tears soaking into her forearm and her eyes were swollen and she was sure she looked extremely unattractive, but Tommy was looking up at her with wide, pooling eyes and it didn't seem like he thought she was gross. 

But he also wasn't saying anything. 

She had always thought he would be the first one to say it. She knew over the years that he had wanted to say it often, but had always kept it to himself. And up until now she had always been really grateful for that, because she knew that all those times before that she wasn't ready. 

But she finally was, and she had said it. And a lot of other serious, mature adult-like things and he was just starring at her. Starring at her while her fingers where over his lips. 

Oh.

Right, yeah.

She pulled her hand away from his mouth with a laugh and sniffed. 

“Sorry.” She said and the smile he gave her made her feel much less disgusting, even with the snot. 

“I love you too.” Tommy said, but she didn't get a chance to really enjoy it, because suddenly he was on top of her and there wasn't really time for processing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1pm

Sara sighed as she pulled the rental into the driveway of the beach house. Nyssa was working an early shift at the bar today. Thursday always being her paper work day, so instead of their usual afternoon together they had instead spent the morning together. It was a nice change of pace, but even though she had just left her, she knew that she would miss spending the day with her. She wasn't used to spending so many hours without her, before going to the bar. 

Ugh.

She was becoming that person. The person that couldn't stop thinking about her girlfriend.

Girlfriend.

Is that was Nyssa was?

The word sparked a colony of butterflies to flutter in her stomach, but not in a bad way. Did she really have a girlfriend? What she had with Nyssa seemed so indescribable, and 'girlfriend' seemed like such a juvenile term. But it also made her smile as she walked up to the house. 

The house had a different energy from day to day. She had learned to never let down her guard when first walking in, never really sure what was happening. And she knew that Tommy would be there today, and that he hadn't left on the best of terms, so she was extra cautious when she walked into the foyer and she could hear a lot of commotion coming from the kitchen. 

She certainly wasn't expecting to see her sister sitting on the kitchen island, in just a bikini top and shorts, her feet swinging back and forth against the cabinet doors, munching happily on a strawberry while Tommy was sticking halfway out of the fridge. 

“Um, hi guys.” She said cautiously, giving a silly little wave. Tommy jerked out of the fridge and shot her a smile and Laurel bounced a little, returning her wave. 

There was a buzz in the air surrounding her sister and Tommy. It was positive, which was the most shocking part. They were on opposite sides of the room, but it didn't really matter, there was an electric connection between them that was palpable. 

She was about to ask what was going on when she felt someone come up behind her. She spun, thinking at best it would be Felicity, and at worst it would be Oliver. But instead it was some guy that she had never seen before. He was dressed oddly for the best, he was in a pair of black swim trunks and a red hoodie, that was unzipped to show off his washboard abs. He breezed into the kitchen like he had lived there his whole life, barely giving Sara a second glance. He didn't address anyone in the room, he simply walked past Tommy and Laurel and headed for the bowl of fruit by the stove and swiped and apple. 

Sara looked between the stranger, her sister and Tommy, confused. They didn't acknowledge the boys presence, but also didn't seem alarmed. He walked past Sara again, his apple in hand and lifted his chin at her in greeting and she nodded on instinct alone, and he was gone again. 

Just as she was about to ask what the hell was going on, they were joined by another new comer in the kitchen. This time Sara vaguely recognized the person. 

Thea Queen bounced into the kitchen, dressed in only a mismatch bikini and sunhat and followed the same path as the unknown boy had. She skittered past Sara without a word, and then when she grabbed an apple she spun around, seeming to notice her for the first time and smile hugely. 

“Sara!” The younger Queen said brightly. “Oh my God, Hi! I'm sorry, I didn't see you. It's been so long, how are you?” She asked in rapid fire, coming over to give Sara a quick hug. Sara was too stunned to respond. She knew Thea, obviously, but they had only ever interacted a dozen or so times their whole life. They were far enough apart in age that they hadn't ever been in same social circles, and never had been that into hanging out like their older siblings. They had been friendly, yes, but hadn't spoke in years. 

It was obvious that Sara was taken aback, and more than a little uncomfortable with the hug so Thea stepped back quickly, giving Sara a reasonable amount of personal space. Then she started bouncing with energy again. “Thanks so much for letting me and Roy crash your vacation. I know the house is starting to get a little crowded, but I promise it will be fun.” She said in a rush, taking a huge bite out of the apple.

Sara squinted and said “Roy?” dumbly, feeling a little drained by Thea's energy.

Thea rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yeah, sorry. Short, cute and broody? The guy that was just in here? That's Roy, my boyfriend. He doesn't mean to be so anti-social, but looking that much like an Abercrombie ad makes you a little stand-offish I guess. He's really not that bad once he gets to know you.”

Sara nodded, her mind rushing to catch up and Thea tapped her on the shoulder in what Sara assumed was a goodbye and rushed from the kitchen. Sara watched through the window as Thea caught up to her boyfriend and tackled him, forcing him into giving her a piggyback ride. She kept her eyes on them until they disappeared onto the beach. 

Laurel snorted behind her and Sara turned to face her. “By the way, Ollie's little sister came for a visit. I guess Tommy thought he needed reinforcements.” Her sister told her with a smirk. 

Tommy, always smarter than anyone gave him credit for, decided not to comment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity was pretty sure that hot tubs were a gift from the Gods. 

She had never recovered from a wine hangover quite so well as she had today. Granted, she did have some help from the omelet that she had eventually made for herself, once the kitchen was a Queen free zone. But she was pretty sure that the hot tub was the main reason that she was a functioning human being right now.

After soaking for a few hours she had texted Sara, wanting to spend some time with her friend before she had vanished into her Nyssa dream land for the day. But, of course Sara was spending the morning with her instead, so Felicity had decided to head down to beach. She still wasn't super functional, so she had forgone her usual crossword puzzle, and had instead brought a trashy magazine with her. 

She was immersed in a particularly fascinating story about the bromance between two of her favorite actors. When she heard a high pitched squeal coming from behind her. She turned quickly to see Thea on the back of some guy, his head and upper body covered in a red hoodie. The guy was running on the sand, weaving around, obviously trying to freak Thea out, because she had covered his eyes with the hood. 

Cute.

She was just about to go back to her article when Thea spotted her, and smiled like she was actually happy to see her. That made Felicity nervous. But Thea just patted the guy on the shoulder and bent down to say something in his ear. Whatever she had said to him, it worked because he straightened up, letting Thea drop down from his back. 

Felicity groaned internally, but put on her best fake smile as the girl bounded over to her. 

“Hi.” Thea greeted, coming to flop down on the sand next to Felicity. 

“Hello, again.” She returned, not really sure where to go from there. 

“Hey, do you have plans today? Besides reading tabloids that is?” Thea asked, her brows raised at Felicity's reading choice. 

Felicity tried to come up with something quick, not wanting to be rude, but also not wanting to spend the day with her. But Thea was too quick for her once again and smiled. 

“Good, because me and Roy are going into town later. I'm dragging Ollie to this barcade thing I saw online and you should come too. I'm gonna try and get Sara and the other two in on it. Should be fun.” She explained, using her hands to emphasize her words. 

Felicity tried to work her mind around the question, but something didn't click. First of all, “Barcade?” She heard herself ask and Thea's smile got bigger. “Oh, yeah they are so awesome. It's like this old fashioned arcade with pinball machines and air hockey and stuff, but they also have a bar so you can do shots while pretending that arcade games are cool. It's a lot of fun, I promise.” 

Well that did actually sound like fun. 

But going into town with Oliver and his super enthusiastic little sister that had no filter? That not so much. And also, “Who's Roy?” She asked, again without really meaning to. Thea turned her head quickly, waving the red hoodie guy over. “He's my boyfriend.” She said as he came up to them, the hood finally not covering his face. “Roy, this is Felicity, Sara and Ollie's friend.” She said, and Felicity probably would have objected to being called Oliver's friend if she hadn't been so dumbstruck by Roy.

Holy crap.

What is it with Starling City? Did they corner the market on emotional problems and killer jawlines?

Before she could stop it she said “Wow. Congrats on the face.” to the guy, Roy, standing above her. He didn't respond, just raised his eyebrows at her. Felicity should have been embarrassed, but when she dropped her eyes to Thea she saw that the girl was amused. This probably happened a lot when Roy was around. “No, I mean it. Well done.” She said to Thea, nodding and Thea laughed lightly. 

“Yeah well, I try.” She said, looking up from Felicity to Roy with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: The barcade and dancing. It's time these people had some actual fun. Tommy and Oliver will become bros again. Also, next chapter we will finally get some validation for Sarah/Nyssa and Oliver will finally stop being 3 when it comes to Felicity.


	9. 'You Know I Only Wanted Fun (and You've Got Me All F*cked Up)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arcades. Alcohol. Dancing. Beyonce. Air Hockey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know how to explain this chapter. This is definitely a turning point for everyone.

You Know I Only Wanted Fun (and You've Got Me All Fucked Up)

Chapter Nine 

June 25th

2pm

Tommy had decided to get in a quick shower before they all headed into town, and despite his asking (begging), Laurel decided to not join him. So that left Laurel and Sara to chat amongst themselves for the first time in days. Things had gotten so crazy this past week or so, with all of the over dramatic talks and newcomers that the sisters hadn't really had a chance to spend any time together.

Personally, Sara preferred it that way. She was dreading the day that she would have to talk to Laurel about where she had been spending her nights. And afternoons. And most mornings. And where her mind was right now. 

Awkward. 

But as they sat there in the kitchen, on opposite sides of the island, sipping their tea and letting the conversation wane, Sara could tell that Laurel was on the verge on questioning her. So, she pretty much only had one choice. She could either confess to her nighttime activities, or she could bring up the other elephant in the room.

“So,” she started, and Laurel looked relieved that Sara was engaging. “You and Tommy seem to be getting along better. That's good.” She said, her tone genuine and she saw her sister smile. It was a nice sight. Laurel had been better these last couple of years, but there always seemed to be this sadness just under the surface and right now, Sara just didn't see it.

Laurel smiled bigger and ducked her head. “Yeah, um we are in a good space right now.” She said, her voice soft and wistful. 

Sara nodded “So, I guess you and Oliver patching things up helped?” She prodded, and immediately regretted it. Even though she knew that Laurel and Ollie could be in the same room now, there was still a lot left unsettled. A shadow passed over Laurel's face and Sara felt her stomach drop.

“It did. Me and Oliver, we have a lot of history and Tommy always thought that stood in our way. But it wasn't my history with Oliver that was the problem. He knows that now.” She said, her voice strained.

“And you and Oliver? How is that going? I mean, I know you're speaking, but are you guys okay?” Sara asked, almost kicking herself for poking at a sore spot. 

Laurel looked conflicted for a few moments and then nodded slowly. “Yes and no.” She started, wrapping her hands around her glass, collecting the moisture and her eyes looked unfocused. “I mean, we talked and we both know that we made mistakes. And he knows that I'm never going to forgive what happened, but that I've moved past it. He was such a huge part of my life in the beginning, and I don't want to have him not there for the rest of it. He was very important to me once. And he could be again, but what matters is that he's important to Tommy now, and that’s important to me. It's a work in progress.” She finished, shrugging her shoulders in a mindless gesture. 

Sara blinked, she had never heard Laurel speak about Oliver in such a mature and evolved way. She was starting to think that this could work. This thing, with her, Laurel, Tommy and Ollie co-existing, being in each others lives and not having this cloud over them forever. 

“Laurel, I need to tell you something.” She said, suddenly so sure that she needed to tell Laurel about Nyssa, and she needed to do it now. But just then Oliver walked into the room, all smiles and charm, heading towards the fridge.

“Hello, ladies. I heard that we're heading into town today for a little arcade fun?” He asked, totally oblivious to the looks that Sara was shooting him. 

She looked to her sister and Laurel was smiling slightly and nodded. “Sure, oh and have you seen Felicity? Thea wanted to invite her too but said she hadn't seen her since this morning.”

The look on Oliver's face had Sara wondering if her best friend had failed to mention something to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3pm

Thea was a lot of wonderful things. She was smart and talented, funny and energetic. She was the master of so many things. But the one thing that she had never mastered was the art of subtly. 

It was something that Oliver had always found sort of endearing. But not when she was working overtime to try and get him a date with a cute girl. Then it was super annoying. 

After their talk on the beach that morning, his little sister had apparently taken it upon herself to invite everyone in the house along for a day of fun in town. She had spread her plan through the house like wildfire before he could even object, asking Laurel and Tommy before they had even made it into the kitchen for a late breakfast, and telling them to bring Sara. He had agreed to the outing because he had seen it as a way to put off talking to Tommy, and a way to get to know Roy a little better. But he had just stood there, speechless as his sister had opened the invite. He had been relieved that she at least hadn't invited Felicity. But then, of course as Laurel had informed him, she just hadn't found her yet. 

After that he had shuffled up to his room to change for the outing, cursing his sister the entire way.

By the time he had come back downstairs, dressed in his typical summer outfit of cargo shorts, a plain tee and a backwards baseball cap he had seen Sara and Laurel sitting on the couch and chatting casually. They quickly informed him that everyone else would be down in a few minutes and then they could all pile into the rental. Just as he was starting to hope that Felicity had managed to avoid or turn down the invite for he felt her breeze past him, yelling 'Shotgun' as she bounded out of the house and down the stairs of the porch. Laurel and Sara both just rolled their eyes and headed out after her quickly, leaving the front door open behind them. 

He had reluctantly followed the girls, wondering if he could take his bike without getting any strange looks. But then Tommy came outside, with Thea and Roy tagging along and he knew that there wasn't time. So they had all crammed into the SUV and headed into town. 

The entire drive Oliver was extremely grateful that he had managed to make up with Laurel and Sara even a little, because being plastered between them and Roy was awkward enough without having them shooting him death glares.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity had grown up playing video games. She had always been drawn to the graphics and had more gamer friends than real life friends her entire school career pre-college. So she had expected to feel right at home in an arcade. 

But playing games at home on a PC that you built from scratch was a lot different than playing in a bar full of bros wearing denim vests and no shirts. 

She looked around with a sigh.

Good thing that the easiest way to earn coins was to buy a drink.

It was Thursday which translated in bar world to 'Ladies Night' and ladies night at the barcade apparently translated to $1 mimosas. And $1 mimosas also came with 5 tokens for games. 

Score.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara wasn't really the type that liked to play games. 

Pool? She liked. She was even pretty good at it.

Bowling? Sure, as long as there was beer and nachos.

Pac-Man and Pin ball? Not so much. 

But the place had a nice open layout, free popcorn and a decent beer selection so she tried not to hate it on sight. 

But then she saw the DDR machine in the back corner and changed her mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel was really trying to keep an open mind. She didn't want to be the only one in the group to pull the adult card.

But really, an arcade?

She was a third year law student.

She let Tommy pull her up the ramp into the bar and suppressed the urge to roll her eyes when she saw that Princess Peach was on the wall outside the women's restroom. 

This was going to be a struggle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy was pretty into this plan. 

There was air hockey, ski ball and he was pretty sure that he just walked past a Dr. Who pinball machine. 

Beer. Popcorn. His girl and Mortal Kombat?

This was his heaven on earth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thea sunk into Roy's shoulder a little bit further and watched her friends wonder around the bar, all of them looking a little lost and overwhelmed. 

She couldn't help but giggle over the fact that they all seemed to head straight for the bar once they did a lap, checking out the games. Laurel, of course ordered a white wine (possibly the first time that had ever happened here), Tommy, Ollie and Sara ordered beers and Felicity seemed pretty excited about her mimosa. 

All in all it took awhile. Everyone had been so awkward around each other for he past few weeks, and they were being forced to socialize. In public. So they all just kind of hung out at the bar while Thea dragged Roy over to the wall of ski-ball machines. They had been there for maybe an hour when she finally heard a somewhat familiar, but long forgotten sound, Oliver's laugh. She whipped her head around, searching him out and she found him in the corner by the air hockey table. Sara was on one side, Oliver on the other and standing with Sara was Laurel and she was pouting? That wasn't something Thea had ever seen before. But Oliver and Sara seemed to be enjoying it enough. 

Thea squinted, the sight a little too strange for her to grasp. She looked around quickly, looking for Tommy and Felicity, and spotted them on the other side of the room, looking pretty deep into a competitive game of Street Fighter.

Interesting. 

She looked back at her lane and saw that Roy had taken advantage of her distraction and had kicked her ass.

“Yeah, okay lets do something else.” She muttered, rolling her eyes at his smirking face and then pulled him over to the pinball machines.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver was man enough to admit when he was wrong.

Well, sometimes anyway. And when he had complained endlessly in his mind about his sister dragging him to an barcade with two of his ex's he was wrong. It turns out that once everyone got a couple of drinks in them, and a pocket full of tokens that it was pretty easy to have fun. 

Tommy had quickly commandeered Felicity, the only true gamer in the group and they had been passing from machine to machine. So that had left Sara and Laurel looking pretty damn uncomfortable, wondering around, whispering to each other. So he had taken the plunge and had challenged Sara (The less scary of the Lance sisters) to a round of Foosball. She had, of course kicked his ass, but it had gotten her to crack a smile so it was worth it. After that they had moved on to a few more 'non-geek' games and Sara had actually started to enjoy herself. At first Laurel had chosen to head over to watch Tommy and Felicity play, leaving Sara and Oliver alone. But when she had gotten bored she finally joined them at the air hockey table. With some not so subtle prodding they had gotten her to agree to play the winner. 

They played a few rounds before finally it came to Oliver and Laurel matched against each other and Oliver had pretty much decimated her. He laughed a full bodied, head thrown back, arm holding his chest laugh at the pout on her face when he beat her 7-1. She was pretty angry, especially considering her 1 point was only scored because Oliver had accidentally slipped the disc into his slot during an overly enthusiastic play. 

She had of course demanded a rematch, and he wasn't really able to deny her considering she seemed to finally be enjoying herself. 

“Fine, fine. Let me beat Sara real quick and we can go again.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mimosas were a good thing. 

Like a really good thing.

Felicity was actually having a pretty good time. And she was like 85% sure it was due to the sup-par champagne and orange juice. 

She giggled around her straw, enjoying her buzz as she looked over at her gaming companion, his tongue sticking out between his teeth as he furiously smashed at the buttons on the pinball machine. 

Tommy was the other 15%. 

She hadn't really realized how much she missed hanging out with him. They had grown pretty close over the last few years, even though they only saw each other for a few hours each weekend. But she always enjoyed his company, and he was always great for a funny and slightly dirty text message when she was having a shitty day. But it had been at least a month or so since they had spent any real solo time together. 

She had been busy with school the last time he was in Boston visiting Laurel and since he had first arrived at the beach house he had been spending all of his time with Laurel. Or lately, with Oliver and Laurel. So she hadn't really gotten to hang out with him and she hadn't really realized how much she missed it until he had poked her in the back and dragged her to play with him today. 

She kept waiting for Laurel or Oliver to come and drag him away. But strangely enough it never happened. Laurel seem content to nurse her white wine and follow Sara around and Oliver... well Oliver, what was Oliver doing?

Felicity bit her lip and looked around, trying to be casual about it. It was just occurring to her now that she hadn't seen Oliver since right after they had all piled out of the truck. 

Not that she cared really.

She didn't. 

He was probably over at the bar hitting on some girl. 

She looked. Nope, not over by the bar. 

She looked back at Tommy to find him sufficiently distracted and then looked around again, looking for the younger Queen, thinking maybe Oliver was off with his sister. She found Thea pretty quick, her and Roy were half hanging out of the photo booth in the back of the room, wearing elaborate wigs and giant sunglasses. She could hear Thea's laughter from here. 

Felicity smiled and then regretted it.

“Damn fungus.” She muttered into the drink, and continued her search of the room. 

She finally spotted Oliver in the front corner of the room by the doors. He was bent over the air hockey table, Sara on the other side and it looked like a pretty heated match. Laurel was standing in the middle, her head whipping back and forth following the disc. 

They all looked...happy. They were having fun together. 

Hmmm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy watched his last ball go down the hole, the bells and alarms sounding on the machine and he smiled in victory. High score. Granted, it was the high score on a Dr. Who pinball machine, but he took any successes he could get these days. He was grinning, waiting for Felicity to acknowledge his awesomeness, but she never did. So he turned to her, his smile falling as he saw her chewing on the straw in her empty glass, starring across the room. 

He followed her gaze and saw Oliver, Sara and Laurel all huddled over the air hockey table, in what looked like a pretty intense battle. He turned fully around, leaning against the pin ball machine and shoulder bumped Felicity. 

“How long has that been going on?” He asked her, lifting his chin towards the group.

She shrugged distractedly. “I dunno, looks like a while. I'm guessing Laurel plays winner. I hope she kicks his ass.” She muttered, letting her straw plop out of her mouth. 

Tommy raised his brow and stepped in front of his friend. “Not the air hockey game. I mean how long have you been warm for his form?” He asked her pointedly and watched her eyes widen behind her glasses. 

“W-what?” She asked him, sounding breathless even though she was standing perfectly still. She looked around for a good 90 seconds, trying to avoid eye contact. He could see a babble building in her chest and he knew she was about to explode. 

He grabbed her hand, leading her towards the bar. “Hey, lemme buy you a popcorn. Let's have some girl talk.”

She looked confused. “The popcorn’s free.”

He shrugged. “Okay, so you can get this round.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel watched in fascination as Sara’s disc slipped past Ollie's defenses, scoring the winning point. His lighting quick hand that had kept her from getting any past him in their earlier match was frozen as he watched Tommy and Felicity walk away from the popcorn machine by the bar and out the side entrance to the alley. He was so distracted that he hadn't even realized that he had just lost. 

Laurel squinted her eyes at him, waiting for her sister's victory dance to pierce the fog that had suddenly come over him. Just then Thea came rushing up to them, throwing her arm over Oliver's shoulder. Roy tagged along at a slower pace, his hands shoved in the pockets of his hoodie. 

“I play winner.” She said in a sing song voice. Finally Oliver seemed present in the conversation and looked up at the score with a grimace. “Well, speedy, I guess you're playing Sara then. I'm uh, I'm gonna grab a drink.” He walked away, looking distracted. 

Laurel looked over at her sister as Thea popped a few tokens into the side of the machine and started to stretch, like she was about to run a marathon. Sara returned Laurel's concerned stare and whispered “Do you think he was that upset I beat him?” across the table. 

Laurel shook her head, biting her lip and looking after her ex. 

The sisters shared a look and Sara nodded, turning her head to watch Oliver walk to the bar. 

“Hey, Thea. Why don't you play Laurel really quick. I'm gonna go grab a beer.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity picked at the splintered table, her cup of popcorn growing cold in front of her. She looked up at Tommy through her lashes, his face slightly blurry and sighed. 

“Laurel seems to be having a good time.” She started, biting her lip. 

He just nodded.

“Sara too. I guess they both made up with Oliver.” She told him with a casual lift of her shoulders. 

He nodded again, staying quiet.

She huffed out a breath and then grabbed a handful of popcorn, popping one piece in her mouth at a time. He didn't speak, she kept looking at him from across the table. 

“Sara told me, you know. She never really talked about what happened between her and Laurel. Before this summer. She had just always said that some guy came between them. I, um, I never knew anything besides that. But then, I guess once she realized that I would be put right smack dab in the middle of the family drama she thought I should know more about it. She told me about him. About what kind of man he is.” She started, wiping the grease and butter on her cutoff jean shorts.

Still he said nothing.

“And I knew that going in. But you know it didn't really change anything. I still had fun with him. I was really starting to like getting to know him.” She said, trailing off and then picked up the cup of now stale popcorn and tossed it back, getting a mouthful. 

This time Tommy didn't stay silent. 

“So you like him? He charmed you?” He asked, his eyes worried.

Felicity suddenly got the feeling that Tommy had the wrong idea about what had happened with her and Oliver. “No!” She rushed to assure him. “I mean, yeah, he's a nice guy. I liked hanging out with him and we seemed to get along really well. But I guess I just didn't get to see that part of him that you guys do? I don't know. We were just having fun. I mean, I expected him to come off all flirty, but I guess he's just not that into me, or whatever. Besides, as soon as he made up with Sara and Laurel he stopped talking to me. Like, I have seen him once since you left for Starling and that was for like five seconds.” She told him, her eyes starting to sting a little and she couldn't for the life of her figure out why this would cause her to be emotional. Getting blown off by some random guy that she didn't even like? Not worth it.

Tommy looked confused. “Wait, so that's what this is about? You keep shooting him death glares because he blew you off? He didn't sleep with you and then blow you off? He just blew you off in general?” He asked, sounding incredulous. 

“What? You thought I slept with him? Are you crazy? I barely know him?!” She shouted at him and then flushed, looking around them making sure that no one else had seen her little outburst.

Tommy shrugged “Well, Smoaky that's what he does. He charms a girl, bangs her and then bails. I means that’s the whole reason I...” He started but then trailed off, suddenly avoiding looking at her.

“What's the whole reason you what?” She heard herself ask, and for the first time she understood what people were referring to when they talked about her 'loud voice'. 

Tommy laughed a little, looking like he was about to bolt. He scratched the back of his head in a nervous way and shrugged. “I dunno. I mean, I may have casually, um, mentioned to Oliver that he wasn't allowed to hangout with you anymore. That, um, if he couldn't leave you alone and focus on helping fix the Laurel situation that he should just leave.” He stuttered over his words and then rushed to cover himself “But, you don't get it Felicity. You don't know him like I do. There is so much that he's done that you don't know. And hell, I can't figure what kind of person he even is right now, and I don't know how to trust him with the people that are so important to me.”

Felicity was proud of herself. She remained calm, cool and collected. She did not yell. She did not curse. She just stared at her friend. Finally, she took a deep breath and looked him right in the eye. “Tommy, can I ask you a question?” She asked, and she was proud of herself for sounding so polite. 

Tommy, looking like he had peed himself, just nodded. 

“In the two years that we've been friends, I've given you a lot of advice, wouldn't you say?”

Once again, he nodded.

“And during all of those hours that we spent with me helping you dissect the intricacies of your relationship with Laurel, did I ever once ask for your advice?” She paused, letting him think about it. “Did I ever once look to you and ask for you to protect me? To play big brother and screen the guys I chose to invite into my bed? Did I ever give you the impression that I couldn't make my own choices when it comes to who I fuck?” She asked him, her brow arched and he just shook his head, looking down at the table like she had just kicked his puppy.

“I didn't think I had. Now, let me make something clear to you. I don't know Ollie. I never met the guy and I really don't feel like I missed anything. I did however, meet the guy that got on a plane and traveled 16 hours to come and spend his last summer of freedom with his childhood best friend, a stranger and his two biggest mistakes. Yes, he was hesitant at first. Yes, he did make a mess of things, and he did spend all of his time avoiding his problems by hanging out with me. But he is still here. He stayed and he fixed what he could. You say I don't know him like you do? Well, the same goes for you. You say there is a lot about him I don't know? I repeat, same goes for you. I know that you're mad at him for not telling you things, but did you ever stop to think that you never asked him?”

“And yes, I like him. He's funny, and smarter than he realizes and way too intense for someone that isn't even 30 years old. I like spending time with him, I liked getting to know him. I may have eventually had a thing for him. But that isn't really any of your business, Merlyn.” She looked at him, knowing that his heart had been in the right place, but she needed to set these boundaries now, before things got out of control. 

“I love you. You're one of my closest friends and I think of you as brother. Your opinion is important to me. But it does not shape how I feel. Now, as for you and Oliver, I get it. He hurt you just as much as those two women in there. He abandoned you just like he abandoned them. And then he came here and tried to act like the 5 years apart meant nothing. That was shitty. But you're forgetting one important thing. You and Laurel and Sara? You lost him. Oliver? He lost everything.” At that she stood up from the table, wiping her butt off quickly and then smiled at her friend.

“Look, Merlyn. You and I are like the only people on this vacation that don't have beef. How about we keep it that way?” She asked, her smile genuine. He seemed a little shaken, by their conversation and her change of attitude, but he smiled back and stood the follow behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7pm

It only took one round of Laurel beating Thea horribly for the younger girl to decide that she was bored with the barcade. She quickly called everyone over, while Laurel looked on in amusement, sharing a look with Roy.

“I wanna dance.” Thea announced, once Sara and Oliver detached themselves from the bar and Tommy and Felicity came back in from outside.

Everyone looked at Thea and then to each other.

“Okay-y” Tommy said, confused.

“Where can that happen?” She asked slowly, looking at them all like they were five.

Laurel pursed her lips. They had done a lot of stuff in town since they had gotten to the beach, but nothing night life related. She shrugged. “I guess there are a couple of bars along the boardwalk where they have music.” She said unsurely.

Felicity scrunched up her nose and shook her head. “Nah, they are too cramped for dancing. Trust me.” She said, and started to chuckle, until she and Oliver locked eyes and then she covered it with a cough. “Um, there is always the League.” Felicity suggested, but the immediately looked like she had swallowed something sharp. 

The name sounded familiar.  
“Oh!” Laurel said, it clicking in her mind. “Isn't that the bar that you always hangs out at? They have dancing?” She asked, looking over at her sister.

Sara’s eyes were wild, like she had just been caught stealing money out of their Mom's purse (again). She shook her head “Uh, that place? Oh, um. Not really. They have a jukebox I guess. But it's not really a dancing type of place.” She said quickly, shooting a look at Felicity who was chewing in her lip and avoiding Sara’s stare. 

Thea wasn't convinced, Laurel could tell.

“Well, Sara, if you hang out there a lot then what do you do? I mean is it cool? I mean, it has to be if you spend a lot of time there.” She reasoned, and Laurel was in agreement.

Felicity suddenly started choking, and Tommy started to pat her on the back, his face worried and confused. 

Sara shook her head again, a little too hard in Laurel's opinion. “I don't think it's such a good idea guys. I mean, it's Thursday. It's going to be pretty dead.” 

Thea was already walking towards the exit, her mind made up. “Well, then we'll just liven it up, won't we?” Just as she reached the exit she held her hands up above her head and shouted “Hey, toss me the keys and I'll drive you bunch of drunks to the bar.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She was going to kill Felicity.

That's how her life was going to end. She would be in jail for the rest of her life for brutally murdering her best friend.

Well at least she wouldn't have to tell her family that she liked boobs.

Silver lining.

Sara quickly opened her door and jumped out of the truck, leaving them to climb out of the rental as she rushed to get inside before everyone else. 

She needed to be the first one in. She had to warn Nyssa. 

She wasn't lying, Thursdays were always slow at The League. Nyssa didn't really like to up-play 'Ladies' Night' she said it always sounded to creepy to her and it made her uncomfortable with the types of people it attracted. Sara just figured she didn't like to have to deal with rowdy college guys after staring at paperwork for hours on end. 

The place was pretty dead, only a few regulars sitting around the bar and the pool tables, and Sara wasn't sure if that would help her situation or make it worse. On one hand, Thea could get bored and ask to leave pretty quick. But on the other, her friends could prod her about why she spent so much time in a bar that wasn't all that exciting. 

She didn't want to tell them about her own person excitement. 

She had just walked in the door when Nyssa spotted her, and Sara’s stomach flipped at the smile that spread over her face. They locked eyes for a second, and Sara knew as soon as Nyssa noticed that something was wrong. Her face grew concerned, and then understanding as Felicity, Laurel and Thea came walking in, surrounding Sara and looking around. Nyssa looked away from Sara from a moment, and Sara guess she was looking at Felicity. Sara turned to her friend and saw her shoot Nyssa an apologetic look. 

She turned back to Nyssa, her eyes watering slightly at the hurt that flashed across her face, and then Nyssa nodded, turning away and making her way to the other end of the bar to wait on the other customers. 

Sara tasted copper as she chewed on her tongue, hating herself. But then Oliver, Roy and Tommy had joined them in the entrance and Thea breezed past her, heading for the jukebox in the back of the room. 

Felicity gave her a reassuring pat on the back that she barely felt and then Sara was standing alone as her friends and sister dispersed, finding a table big enough for them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy looked across the table at his best friend and frowned. 

He looked different. He had known that as soon as he had seen him standing on the porch of the beach house. But it wasn't just that he had cut off that horrible floppy hair, and had managed to grow some pretty manly facial hair. He seemed taller, broader. His eyes were different, he held himself different. Tommy had spent this whole time torn between trying to ignoring the changes, and hating them. He couldn't imagine that had made him seem very open to Oliver. And the one time that he had actually broached the subject with him, it had been while he was calling him a horrible friend. 

Wow, he was a dick.

He looked around the room. Sara had finally joined them at the table, but looked like she was sitting on broken glass. Laurel was tapping her foot along to the beat, Thea was dragging Roy around the tiny space that she had carved out as a dance floor behind the pool tables and Felicity was over at the bar. For as long as she had been there, Tommy thought she was probably making the most complicated drink order of all time. 

Sighing he pulled himself up straighter in his chair and looked at Oliver. “Hey, man, you wanna shoot some pool?” He asked, his head feeling fuzzy with nerves. 

Oliver looked at him, his brow furrowed and nodded hesitantly. “Uh, sure, why not?”

“Cool.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nyssa stared at Felicity, not really knowing what to say.

She has seen the look of fear on Sara’s face when her and her friends had first arrived. Nyssa had been around long enough to know when to play straight. When you were dating someone like Sara, someone that was not only terrified of actual feelings, but terrified of anyone else finding out about her feelings, it had to happen at some point. 

Nyssa hated it. 

It made her feel dirty, it made her feel like she had something to be ashamed of. But she also knew that despite little moments like this, when she felt like she was being shoved back in the closet, that Sara had really come to care about her. And she cared about Sara, so she could play act for a few hours to keep this all from blowing up.

But then Felicity, Sara’s little blonde friend, had come up to the bar. She had come over, under the pretense of ordering a drink but had really come to try and save face. She had come up, looking like she was being sent to the wood shed and had smiled pitifully.

“Hey, Nyssa. Look I know how this might look.” She started and Nyssa just chuckled, surprised at how bitter it sounded.

“It looks like Sara was conned into bringing her friend to a bar, and that is unfortunate for her because she doesn't want them to know that she's sleeping with the bartender.” She said, already pouring a glass of Sara’s favorite beer from the tap and passed it to the blonde. 

Felicity licked her lips nervously and winced. “Yeah, okay so I guess it's pretty obvious what it is then. Look, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to suggest this place, but it happened and I just came over here to let you know that Sara isn't being this way because she doesn't care. Or because she's embarrassed of you, I mean, not that anyone would ever be embarrassed of you. I mean, look at you. I'd sleep with you.” She started to babble and Nyssa looked down on her, debating on whether to take pity on her or not. Finally when the blush overtook her face and she started to wheeze a little, Nyssa stopped her by putting her hand over Felicity's.

“I understand. I'm not mad. I'm not overly thrilled, either. But I know about Sara and her past with her family. Especially with her sister, and while I would love to be able to meet my girlfriend's friends tonight I know that she isn't ready for that. I can wait.” She explained to the ball of nerves in front of her with a soft smile.

Felicity looked at her, smiling thankfully. “You, um, you called her your girlfriend.” She pointed out and Nyssa felt herself blush. Sara was right, Felicity was contagious. 

Felicity just smirked “I won't tell.” She said with a wink and then walked away with Sara’s beer in hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took awhile. They had been in the bar for over an hour, but eventually everyone had loosened up enough to begin to have a good time. 

Thea never sat down, she had managed to stay dancing, even as she refilled the jukebox with quarters and selected songs. 

Oliver and Tommy were on their second game of pool, Roy occasionally escaping his dance partner to watch the game in quiet interest. 

Sara was pretty quiet at first, until Felicity had given her a beer and then she had been able to convince her to liven up a little. Laurel on the other hand just sat back and enjoyed watching her friends have fun. 

At least until Thea became tired of entertaining herself and pulled her onto the dance floor. Which in turn made her pull Sara and then in the natural progression of things, all of the ladies ended up in the back corner of the room, crowded together and dancing. It was all very silly and fun and they were all pretty awkward. 

It was a blast.

Then 'Countdown' came on the jukebox, and Sara and Felicity shared this frantic look and immediately started jumping together, their arms in the air. Suddenly the only sound in the bar was the four of them jumping together, fists pumping, singing at the top of their lungs.

**“My baby is a 10”**

Hands in the hair, all fingers wagging.

**“We dressing to the 9”**

One finger down.

**“He pick me up we 8”**

Two fingers down.

**“Make me feel so lucky 7”**

Three.

**“He kiss me in his 6”**

Four.

**“We be making love in 5”**

They all high-fived, one hand down.

**“Still the one I do this 4”**

By this point Felicity was laughing too hard to continue the song, she was bent over, tears streaming down her face.

**“I'm trying to make a 3”**

Laurel and Sara dropped down to the floor, back to back, laughing, hand still counting down. 

 

**“From that 2”**

Thea was the only one still able to finish the countdown, her hand raised high as she stood in middle of the others, victorious. 

**“He still the 1”**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver shared a look with Roy and the younger guy just shrugged.

“Should we be worried about them?” He asked Tommy as they all stood by the table, their game abandoned as they watched their friends in a pile on the dance floor in a fit of laughter. 

Tommy just shook his head and said “Eh, I think it's just a Beyonce thing.”

Oliver frowned, taking a swig of his beer and then looked back at Roy.

“You don't talk a lot do you?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ladies eventually gathered their wits again and headed off of the dance floor to grab a few drinks. Thea, being underage, and not in a town where the Queen name meant a whole lot, was the only sober one, so she made frequent trips to the bar for snacks. 

They were all sitting at the table together, snacking on fried pickle chips and cheese fries. Sara had smiled to herself when their third plate of cheese fries had come back with a plate of carrot and celery sticks on the house. 

She shot a look to Nyssa who just shrugged with a smirk.

Point well taken, Sara grabbed a carrot stick and started munching on it with a grin. 

They were all enjoying the snacks, drinks and each others company when Thea jumped up, pulling Roy and Oliver with her. 

“Emergency dance party.” She shouted and while Roy went along willingly Oliver dug his heels in and dropped her arm. 

“You know I don't dance.” was all he said as he flopped back down in his seat and grabbed a pickle chip, ending the discussion. 

Thea stood there, pouting for a second before she cut her eyes to Felicity and pounced.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11pm

Four hours.

They had literally been in the bar for more than four hours, dancing, laughing and shooting pool. 

Sara had come to this bar nearly every night since the vacation has started and she had never left it this tired. She pulled herself from her seat with a groan. She let everyone know that she was going to close out their tab and headed towards the bar. 

She was pleasantly buzzed and feeling pretty great about life. She had a beautiful girlfriend, amazing friends and her sister was in her life. She was happy for one of the first times in her life and she couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she made her way to the bar, stumbling slightly. 

Nyssa was waiting, like always, by the seat that Sara had claimed her first night here.

She looked so amazing. She had been here most of the day, so her eyes were cloudy from being tired, and her was hair pulled away from her face in a messy ponytail, most of her makeup had been rubbed away over the course of the day. She had pencils stuck in her hair from paperwork that afternoon, her black tank top had several big wet spots that were slow to dry and she had a bar rag sticking out of the back pocket of her jeans. 

Stunning. 

Sara walked over the bar, leaning over and smiling up at Nyssa through her lashes. 

“You have to let me pay tonight. I can't even imagine the photo shoot that I'd have to do to pay this tab.” She said, and she was almost surprised by how flirtatious she sounded. Nyssa wasn't. She just laughed and nodded, taking Sara’s card and walking over to the register to total it out. 

By the time she came back over Sara was mesmerized by the way she walked, hell, even the way she breathed. Her mind was filled with the fog that always seemed present when she was with Nyssa and when she handed her the card, Sara grabbed her hand, pulling her closer. 

Nyssa looked a little startled, but smiled anyway. “Sara, what are you doing?” She asked and Sara could swear that she was breathing heavier.

“I'm kissing my girlfriend.” Sara said, the words coming out on their own.

“Your drunk.” Nyssa said, and Sara could feel the words, their faces so close now. 

“Doesn't change anything.” She whispered, just before closing the remaining distance and capturing Nyssa's lips with her own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity knew that she had done enough damage tonight, by slipping up and having everyone come to this bar in the first place. She did not need to add to it by drawing attention to Sara locking lips with Nyssa at the bar. But she couldn't help it. She was more than a little tipsy, and to be honest, they looked pretty damn hot. 

So when she looked over to see if Sara was almost done checking them out, she gasped. 

Loudly.

Then suddenly, the whole table was watching Sara and Nyssa.

“Frack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No real Felicity/Oliver interaction during this chapter, which I regret but it would have felt forced. But now that Felicity know why he was being so evasive, they can start to fix things. Tommy and Oliver still have some issues, that they need to work through but now that both have their heads out of their ass that should be easier to take care of. 
> 
> What will everyone say about Nyssa and Sarah?
> 
> What did Sarah go to the bar to talk to Oliver about?
> 
> Also, I feel like Felicity may be a little outnumbered on this trip. It would be a shame if some of her friends couldn't pay her a visit, right? Just a thought.


	10. I Wanna Scream I Love You at the Top of My Lungs (But I'm Afraid That Someone Else Will Hear Me)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah's secret is out, how does everyone react? Felicity is over Oliver keeping his head up his ass. Thea wants to hunt turtles and Oliver needs to own up to his time in Hong Kong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is not explanation for why this chapter is so late. Other than life got in the way, and I also got into a nasty fight with a pot hole and I lost. And so did my ankle. I do finally have an end in sight for this one though. The story was originally designed to have 14 chapters but now will have 17 because I am way too damn wordy. 
> 
> Hope you all like this one, the next few will be all kinds of fun.

I Wanna Scream I Love You at the Top of My Lungs (But I'm Afraid That Someone Else Will Hear Me) 

June 26th 

9am 

It was quieter in the beach house than it had been since before they had all arrived. There had been countless issues surrounding the residents of the house over the past few weeks, but this was different. 

Last night had changed everything.

It was mid morning and no one had stirred yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel starred at the ceiling, her eyes unfocused as she listened to Tommy's steady breathing. 

They had come back to the house last night and had talked until nearly dawn. 

So much had suddenly become clear when she had turned and saw her sister locked in a sloppy, yet passionate kiss with the bartender. It hadn't taken a genius to see that it wasn't the first the women had shared, and the familiarity and comfort that surrounded them was enough to make Laurel's heart clench. 

She had turned away, feeling like she was intruding on something personal and private. By the time she had looked back up, her sister was gone and Nyssa was looking after her with sad eyes. 

Sara hadn't come back to the house with them. And considering how late her and Tommy had stayed awake last night, she was pretty sure that she hadn't come home after them either. 

She knew Sara well enough to know that she was running scared. Her little sister had always felt in such extremes and never knew how to handle it. It made more sense now, considering she had probably been hiding such a huge part of herself for most of her life. And if this woman, this Nyssa had finally convinced her to be herself, at least when they were together, then Laurel wanted to thank her. 

But first she had to find her sister and convince her that the world would go on spinning if she let herself be happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver had always prided himself on being observant. Even when he was a selfish piece of shit, he usually could pick up on social ques fairly well. But seeing Sara Lance making out with the bartender last night had thrown him for a complete and total loop. He had never seen that coming. And he felt like the biggest heel in the world for being so in the dark. 

That first night when Sara had come to him, before Hong Kong, made so much more sense now. She had always been very aggressive in her pursuit of him. She always laid it on so thick, and from what little he could remember from the biggest mistake of his life, she was very aggressive that night as well. She had this wild look in her eyes, this panic on her face and she had seemed so scared but so determined. At the time, and for the years afterward, whenever he couldn't block that night out he had always just chocked that up to her age and immaturity. But now it made sense. She was trying to convince herself that she wanted him and what he could offer her. 

The night not so long ago, when she had come to his room to confront him, she had been crying. She had been upset about something and would never tell him why. The 'date-ish' that Felicity had talked about, the way Sara had insisted that she had to know if she had ever had feelings for him, it all fell into place. 

She was running from her feelings, from who she was and she chose to come to the one person that was just as fucked up and in denial as she was, him. 

He should have known, he should have seen that same storm in her eyes that he saw in the mirror everyday. But, like usual, he was too fucking selfish to see it. 

He had, however, noticed a change in her more recently. Ever since that night in his room she had been less at odds about something. He had just assumed it was because she had finally realized that her feelings for him had faded. Because, of course he assumed it was just about him. That's the person he was. 

She had even come to him last night, when they were out together, and had seen something in him change. He had been so bothered by watching Tommy and Felicity together. The ease in which they laughed and enjoyed each others company. He wasn't jealous, really, he knew better that anyone how Tommy felt about Laurel. He wasn't jealous in that way, but seeing how easy it was for them, when it was so hard for him was like a punch to the gut. He had lost Tommy ages ago, and could never seem to get back to what they had before, and he had lost Felicity before he ever really even had her. 

And Sara knew. She could see that by the look on his face, and the hunch in his shoulders as he sat at the bar and sulked over his beer. She had come to him and offered him words of comfort. “It's not too late for you to fix it.” She had told him, and never specified if she meant his friendship with Tommy, or his...whatever with Felicity. But when he had looked her in the eyes she had just smiled and he had a feeling that she meant both. 

They had chatted aimlessly after that, probably the first conversation that they had ever shared that wasn't tainted by something else. No obvious flirting, no guilt over the past, no dark clouds overhead, and it was nice. He had never really bothered getting to know Sara as a person, she had always just been the hot little sister, and then the big mistake and during that short chat he had actually started to think that they could be friends. 

And then he had seen her kissing Nyssa and he was reminded that he was a horrible friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The best way to describe the night before was to use a word that Felicity had come to claim as her own from a very early age. 

Awkward. 

She had felt pretty guilty at first, for being the reason they had ended up at The League, which resulted in the unintended outing of a more than tipsy Sara. But the more she thought about it the less bothered she felt. Sara didn't deserve to hide who she was, and Nyssa certainly didn't deserve to be someone's secret. 

Felicity had been a little worried at first, when Sara had run off from the bar, and even more so when she hadn't come back to the house. But then she had gotten a text from her a little after 1 am letting her know that she was going to be crashing at Nyssa's and that she was okay, but just needed to avoid life for a little while longer. 

She knew that she should be a little more concerned about the fallout from last night, but she just wasn't. She knew why Sara had struggled with herself for so long, she had met the Lance's and knew the pressure they put on their daughters, but she also knew how much they loved Sara and Laurel and she knew that as long as Sara wasn't doing anything destructive, that everyone would learn to adjust. So while she felt for her best friend, she was also pretty confident that Sara’s biggest enemy was her own mind. 

And not to be selfish, but Felicity had her own drama to work out. 

A part of her, a much smaller one that she wanted to admit, was still pretty angry at Oliver. 

She understood better now why he had ghosted out on her, his whole purpose this summer was to repair his old relationships. And after Tommy's threat he was in danger of screwing that up, so he had taken his friends ultimatum and ran with it. She could understand that. She knew Tommy pretty well, and she knew how much Oliver meant to him, and if Tommy meant even a quarter of that to Oliver then it was a no brainier that he would choose Tommy. But she was still pretty ticked off, regardless. 

If she were more of an adult and more self actualized, then she may be willing to admit that Oliver playing keep away with his time lately had accomplished nothing more than making her realize that she was harboring a tiny crush on him, but she wasn't quite there yet. 

So instead she just focused on the part of her brain that admitted that she really liked Oliver as a friend and had gotten attached to their totally platonic time together. And she knew that even though the had put Tommy in his place the night before, that she was going to have to take matters into her own hands and get back on track with Oliver, because Tommy would never go there. 

At first she planned on just walking over to his room and banging on the door, but then she thought better of it. She wasn't the only one in the house that hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. While she had known about Sara and Nyssa for a while now, and had long ago had her suspicions about Sara, she knew that they rest of the house was still reeling from last night's discovery. 

So she had decided to give it a little bit of time, and spent her morning laying in bed, finishing off one of the many books that she had brought along with her. 

But Oliver wasn't ever very far from her mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Staying with Nyssa last night had been...interesting to say the least. 

They were both a little drunk. Sara from the alcohol and the pressure and Nyssa from thickness in the air around them. They hadn't spoken much. Sara had ran from the bar as soon as she had broken the kiss. She needed to get as far away from her family and friends as possible, before the consequences slapped her in the face.  
But once she had stopped running she realized two things. One, she didn't really have anywhere to go and two, she only wanted to be in one place. So she had walked all the way to Nyssa's place. She knew where the spare was hidden, but they weren't at that place yet, so instead she had just sat outside of the front door and waited. 

Nyssa had obviously skipped out early, because she hadn't had to wait long. On a normal night, Nyssa never got home before 3, but Sara had watched her slowly coming up the sidewalk just after midnight. One look in her eyes and Sara had known that Nyssa was just as effected by the night as she was. 

She had simply followed Nyssa into the house, and they both silently stripped, crawling in to bed together. They had stayed away for almost an hour, just taking comfort in laying together, without touching. Finally, just as Sara started to feel her eyes drift shut and her breathing begin to even out as sleep took over her body she felt Nyssa shift and then whisper “Is this over?”

Sara stayed silent as her heart pounded in her ears and her mind raced. 

Was this over?

Would this all be too much?

She rolled her head to the side, Nyssa so close that their noses brushed and she felt a clam settle over her. 

“Not as long as you’ll have me.” She had whispered back, not even knowing what she was going to say until the words settled between them. But it was just what they both needed to hear. 

Sleep had come easily after that, for both of them. But life had to go on, and running worked for a night, but not for much longer. So by mid-morning Sara was dressed and half way out the door when she heard Nyssa come to. 

They shared a look, and Sara smiled as she turned back to leave. 

As long as she still had this, then she would deal with whatever else came at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The only person that couldn't care less about whatever it was that had transpired between the blonde and the bartender last night was Roy Harper. 

He had known when Thea had dragged him onto that damn private jet that he was in for a brand new level of rich people bullshit, but Thea had packed at least a dozen tiny swimsuits and it got him away from Moria Queen and her evil eye for a few weeks so he was down. 

But he was more than over the drama and he had only been here for a few days. He didn't get it. The bulk of them had been friends for like, ever, and they acted like they had all killed a bag of puppies or something. 

He just really wanted to get his girlfriend in the hot tub, and her big brother to not punch him in the face. That wasn't too much to ask, right? 

The only good thing to come out of last night, in his opinion, was that everyone else seemed to be wrapped in their own little worlds, and for once Thea didn't see a way to but in and fix it. So as soon as he was able to get her to stop fighting the whole waking up thing, he was going to drag her down to the beach and as far away from this 'Laguna Beach' crap as he could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2pm

Laurel had picked up a lot of bad habits since she had started this thing with Tommy.

And the newest one was laying in bed until the late afternoon. By the time she had rolled herself out of bed she was sore and overtired just from her own laziness. She wanted nothing more than to crawl back in bed with her STILL sleeping boyfriend, but she knew that she needed to talk to her sister. So she rushed through a shower and threw on her most causal outfit, jeans shorts and a loose fitting tank top over a swimsuit before she stepped out of her room and walked down the hall to Sara’s room. 

After knocking for a few moments she chanced the door. It was obvious that Sara hadn't been back in the room since the day before and Laurel frowned. She might have missed a lot about her sister, but she knew her enough to know that she wouldn't still by with the bartender, if she had even gone to her at all. When Sara ran, she almost always did it alone. 

So after debating herself for a while she figured she would go with the easiest solution, the beach. She stopped back by her room and scribbled a quick note for Tommy. 

It didn't take her long to find her sister, with it being a private beach. Roy and Thea were right in front of the house, a few hundred feet into the water, yelling, laughing and splashing each other. Sara was much further down, high up on the beach sitting on a sand dune. The pink on her cheeks and forehead told Laurel that she had been there for a long while and she sighed. 

“If you're gonna hide out somewhere, you really should be better at it. I mean, did you even put on sunscreen?” She asked as she climbed up the sand dune, coming to sit right next to Sara.

She didn't turn to look at her, the only acknowledgment that Sara had even heard her was a quirk of her eyebrow. Laurel took some comfort in that eyebrow and soldiered on. 

“I mean, you always were the best at running away. Remember? I was the one that couldn't make it to the end of the block because I would always get hungry. Or I would have forgotten my toothbrush. You? You were the one Dad had to put out an APB for.” She teased with a shoulder check. Sara smiled a little at that, but then looked away her smile fading. 

“I'm not running away.” Was all she said and Laurel nodded slowly, watching the younger girl. 

“Well then, how about you tell me what you are doing.” She said softly, trying to keep her tone and expression open and comforting. 

Sara laughed, the sound filled with no humor and shrugged. “Is it okay to say that I don't know?” She asked, looking Laurel in the eyes for the first time in weeks. 

“Of course.” She assured her, reaching out to brush the hair that had blown into her sisters face. 

“Good. Because I don't. I mean, I know that I'm different. I've always known, I think. I've always had these feelings, these doubts.” She started and Laurel swallowed, her mouth tasting of ash. Sara had been struggling with this for a long time, she could tell. “But I just always thought that it would go away. That I would meet a guy and he would be what I had been looking for. I tried to make Oliver that guy.” She continued, her eyes flashing to Laurels and Laurel could see the guilt in them. “I'm so sorry. But I was just so scared. And when he left, and he wasn't so much an option anymore, I just convinced myself that I was heartbroken. And that was why I didn't feel the way I should. This whole time I was convinced that some guy would be what I needed to fix me. But, then I met her. I met her and suddenly it didn't feel like I was broken anymore.” 

Laurel felt a telling prickle at the backs of her eyes and wondered when she had turned into such a crier. She reached over and grabbed Sara’s hand, pulling into her lap and smiled. “You're not. You're not broken. There is nothing that you need anyone to fix, Sara. You are strong and smart and beautiful.” She told her, stressing each word and she could see the fear in her sister's eyes start to face and smiled. “You are a smart ass and can be such a bitch. You are loud, and aggressive and more competitive than anyone should be. You are my little sister and you are perfect. You being with a woman doesn’t change that for me.” She finished, the tears finally falling from her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. “And it won't change anything for Mom and Dad either.” She assured her, knowing that was the real reason her sister had kept her concerns to herself for so long. 

They sat there quietly for a long while. The first time in nearly a decade that they could sit together without the silence pressing down on them. 

Finally, Sara turned to her, her eyes swollen and red. “Do you really think it's going to be okay? You don't hate me?” She asked, sounding very much like the baby sister that Laurel remembered from before everything between them became so much work. 

She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Sara and squeezed her tight. 

“I love you. That didn't stop five years ago and it won't stop now.” She whispered into her ear, her voice clogged with tears. They held the embrace for a few more moments and then Laurel let out a watery laugh as they pulled away. 

“What?” Sara asked, wiping at her eyes.

“I'm just a little bummed that your girlfriend has a better ass than Tommy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4pm

Oliver was still practicing his avoidance routine, so Felicity knew that it wouldn't be all that simple to get him to talk to her. So instead of waiting around for him, she decided to do a little recon. Which basically amounted to, finding Thea on the beach and asking her where Oliver had vanished to that afternoon. 

Not exactly CIA level, but it got the job done. She didn't even mind the smirk on Thea's face as the teen ran away from her and back into the water with her frustratingly handsome boyfriend. 

So shortly after leaving the younger Queen, Felicity was dressed and ready to head into town. She had seen that Oliver's bike was gone so she knew what to look for as she drove the rental past all of the local shops downtown. When she finally spotted it, parked outside of the gun range she was surprised. Oliver Queen didn't really strike her as the type that liked to shoot for sport. 

Regardless, she parked the truck a few spots down from his bike and settled in. She didn't have to wait long. She saw him as he exited the shop, a duffel hanging from his shoulder. He had on a baseball cap, and was fiddling with his sunglasses, so he didn't see her as she hopped from the truck and rushed over to his bike. He did see her, however, when he walked up to the bike and she was leaning against the seat with her arms crossed over her chest. 

He stopped short, and then looked around, she assumed to see if she was alone. 

“Since when do you shoot?” She asked without a greeting. 

He cocked his head to the side, looking her over before he asked, “Since when do you follow me?” , instead of answering her question. 

“Since you apparently turned into a mobster.” She responded, tilting her chin at the shooting range and he chuckled. 

“Well, if you must know, I learned to shoot when I was over seas. It's a stress reliever type of thing.” He answered finally, walking past her to the other side of the bike as he started strapping the duffel down. 

“Little rich boy suddenly into weaponry? What happened to you over there?” She asked, her tone teasing but even she could tell her question was more serious that she had intended. His eyes snapped to hers and she flinched. She knew he didn't like to talk much about his time away, and she didn't really want to bring up more than one sore subject at a time. She opened her mouth, intending on switching topics when he answered. 

“I was in Hong Kong, not Iraq.” He told her with a glare, and then sighed “And it wasn't 'suddenly'” He said with air quotes. “I have always thought weapons were cool. I was into archery when I was a kid. And fencing. At least, I was until I learned what fun sex was. And then everything else became less fun.” He said with a sneer, and she knew that he was trying to brush off the fact that he had started to reveal something really personal. 

She squinted at him, reminded now of why she was here in the first place. 

“You're a strong guy, right?” She asked, and the drastic change of subject made him blink. 

“Um, I uh, yeah.” He stumbled, thrown by the question. 

“And me? I'm pretty tiny, right? Cute but not really all that intimidating, strength wise?” She asked, walking around to his side of the bike and he looked like he was forgetting the fact that breathing was important. 

She gave him a break and didn't make him answer. “So, with that in mind, what I can't seem to understand is why. Why on earth would you, a guy twice my size with muscles like that, and apparently a love of swords, guns, and bow and arrows, would be scared of Tommy Meryln. A guy that I can, have and probably will in the future, beat the shit out of.” She finished, coming to stand right in front of him, forcing him to look down on her and she realized the second that he understood her. 

“Oh.” He said, obviously not knowing what else to say. 

“Yeah. Oh.” She responded, her best 'you're a jerk' face in place.

“You talked to Tommy?” He asked pointlessly. She nodded. 

“Oh, yes. We had a nice little talk all about how he forgets that he is neither by Dad, boyfriend or brother and therefore has no right to tell me how to live my life.” She told him a pointed look and then frowned “Not that him being either of those things would give him the right to tell me how to live my life. I mean, I am a grown woman and I don't need any- well, whatever, you know what I mean.” She huffed, she arms going back to rest across her chest and rolled her eyes at him when he smirked at her. 

“So, you came here to what? Yell at me for doing what my best friend asked me to do?” He asked her, slipping past her and sat down on the bike, facing her. She didn't have a response. That was what she came here to do. That and to try and get back what they had before. But she didn't know how to say that without sounding like an idiot. 

“Or is it because you missed me?” He questioned, his tone bordering on hopeful. 

Felicity rolled her eyes. “Look, we were good for a little while there. We were getting along and we had fun, and like I told Tommy, I don't have beef with anyone here and I'd like to keep it that way. So I would really like it if you could get your head out of your ass and we can be friends again.”

He stared at her, his eyes roaming over her face and just before she started to fidget under his gaze he swung one leg over the seat and moved to start the bike. 

“Is that what we are, Felicity? Friends?” He inquired, not looking at her and she pulled her lower lip in between her teeth, confused. 

“Well, yeah. I'd like to think so anyway.” She responded as he started the bike, the engine springing to life and drowning out the sigh she saw escape his lips. He turned to her with a small smile and nodded. “Then yeah, we can be friends.” He agreed and then with a wave “I'll see you back at the house.” And then he was pulling out of the space and as she stayed behind, watching him until he was gone from her eye line, and she couldn't help but feel like she was missing something.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8pm

By the time Laurel and Sara stopped the overly cute sister bonding on the beach, the sun had started to set and they were both starving. As they walked back up to the house they took notice that Roy and Thea had finally stopped rough housing and we just laying face down on a towel together, talking quietly. 

Neither sister wanted to walk over to them and risk hearing something gross so Sara just shouted to them to come up for dinner soon. Thea just waved a hand in the air in acknowledgment and went back to her conversation. 

Walking in to the kitchen, Sara had never been happier that her sister had hooked up with Tommy. He was a lot of things, and not always good things, but one quality she admired was his ability to cook. The kitchen smelled wonderful and both women started sniffing around the stove. They didn't make it too far before Tommy came tutting up behind them. 

“Hey! Get away from my bisque. That's restaurant quality stuff, and your dirty paws aren't to go near it.“He groused to them, in spite of their matching pouts. “No, now get up stairs and get cleaned up. I already shooed Felicity and Oliver up there. Dinner is in an hour and I expect you all to be down here. 

Sara maintained her pout as she made her way to the exit, rolling her eyes at her sister, who was trying to use her 'feminine wiles' to persuade a shrimp from Tommy. But he was having it, and smack her hand lightly with a dish towel as she huffed and followed behind Sara. 

They were almost clear of the kitchen when she heard Tommy clear is throat.  
“Hey, uh, Sara? Why don't you invite Nyssa over for dinner?” He questioned, his casual tone forced. Sara turned back to him, but he wasn't looking at her, instead he was stirring the bisque.

She knew this was his way of telling her that he was okay with this change in her life. She knew this was another big step, one of many that she would be taking now, it seemed, and she smiled. 

“She's working late tonight. But, uh, I'll ask her about this weekend maybe.” She said, her hand on the door jam looking back at him. He looked up then, meet her eyes and smiled that trademark Tommy Merlyn grin.

“You do that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dinner moved along fairly well considering the day they had all had. 

Tommy made an amazing lobster bisque with some fancy shrimp appetizer that Felicity had never even heard of. There had been a massive salad, and more bread than Felicity had ever seen on a table in her life. She felt like dinner would never end, and it almost didn't. 

Everyone in the house had a late morning, and so when they finally starting clearing the table that night at 10:30, no one seemed overly tired. They all worked on cleaning up together. Laurel and Oliver washed dishes, Sara and Thea wiped down the table and counters, Roy took out the trash and Felicity packed up what little bit of leftovers remained. 

Tommy started watching some game in the living room. His argument being that while everyone else in the house had spent the day talking about their feelings and playing in the water, he had been slaving away and deserved a break. Everyone was so stuffed and happy that they couldn't really argue with him. 

As they put the final touches on the kitchen, Roy began to look a little annoyed (not that he didn't always look that way, but this was even more so than usual). Thea had apparently gotten it into her mind that if she went out on the beach at midnight, that they would be able to see all of the turtles coming up to lay their eggs. 

That didn't really sound very logical to Felicity, but she didn't really have any plans, and it was a nice night out so, what the hell?

“I'm in.” She offered as she washed her hands in the sink, looking over at the young couple.

Thea's eyes lit up and she bounced on her heels, pulling on Roy's arm. “Really?! Yay, oh come on Roy. It'll be fun.” She urged, her excitement becoming contagious. The Lance sisters shared a look and turned to Felicity and smiled. “Us too.” Sara said, tilting her head towards Laurel. 

This made the teenager clap her hands together in happiness. “What about you, Ollie? Wanna come?” She asked turning to her brother. He looked between Thea and Felicity for a moment and then towards the living room where she knew that Tommy was and frowned. 

“Nah, Speedy. I think I'm just gonna hang around the house.” He told her, still turned towards the sound of the game. Thea looked like she was going to protest for a minute but then thought better of it and nodded. 

“No biggie. Alright, party people, lets go find me a turtle.” She jested, her hands above her head in victory as they all started to march down to the beach. 

Roy grumbled the entire way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy knew the second that Oliver entered the room. 

That man exuded an air of tension that shouldn't be possible. He sighed, his focus on the game waning as he heard Oliver make his way over to the couch. 

“Everyone else go to bed?” He heard himself ask, more so just to go ahead and jump start the conversation. 

“Hunting turtles.” His friend answered and Tommy turned to him as he sat on the arm of the couch. 

“That sounds...terrifying.” He responded, and he knew he looked confused. “Let me guess, Thea?” He asked and laughed when Oliver nodded his head with a grimace. Tommy turned back to the game and waited. 

He didn't have to wait long. 

“I talked to Felicity today.”

Tommy wasn't surprised. That girl was persistent and she didn't like to procrastinate. 

“And?” He asked, leaning over then to take the beer from Oliver than he had offered. 

“She, uh, she basically called me a wimp for being scared of you.” He said, cutting of his chuckle by taking a swig of his beer. He swallowed and then smiled. “She said that she's kicked your ass?” He questioned, a shit eating grin on his face. 

Tommy groaned. 

“Yeah.” He said reluctantly. “At DDR.” He said in explanation. “And 'Just Dance'.” He finished with a quirk of his lip. 

Oliver snorted, and then broke into the first actual laugh that Tommy had heard from him since before Hong Kong. 

“She's something.” Tommy said cautiously. He wasn't sure that finding a common ground with Oliver was a good idea, if that common ground was Felicity. 

“She's remarkable.” Oliver answered him, no longer laughing and Tommy knew then that he wasn't going to like whatever else Oliver had to say about Ms. Smoak. 

He shifted on the couch and angled his body towards his friend and nodded. “Yeah, about that. Look man, I talked to her last night. And I gotta admit that she put me in my place. I've been mad at you for longer than I'd like to admit. It may have even started before you left, if I'm being honest.” He confessed, looking up at Oliver through his lashes. He noticed that the other man didn't seem really surprised. 

“Yeah.” Oliver started. “I figured.”

“I was upset with you for a lot of things, Ollie. Still am. But I think a lot of that anger that I have is towards a guy that doesn't really exist anymore. I feel like you're a different person, since you've come back. And while that is good, because let's be honest, you would have died if you had continued on that way for much longer. So it's great that you've grown up, but I never got to fix what was fucked up with my friend. I never got to tell him what was broken. And then you come here and act like nothing has really changed, when I know that it has. And you won't talk to me about what those five years were like for you. God, Ollie, you act like you were gone for a long weekend. You have been putting on a show for me. You can be honest with Felicity, with Sara and Laurel and Thea, but for fucksake, I was your best friend. You were like a Goddamn brother to me and you were gone. For five years, you were gone and now you're back and I can't get through to you.” Tommy wasn't really sure what had come over him. He hadn't even realized that his voice was raising, and the next then he knew he was on his feet, pacing the room, hands flailing. 

He couldn't stop. He had finally opened the flood gates and now he couldn't close them.

“I get it. You were alone over there. You didn't have any family and no friends and your entire life was different. I get that, Ollie, I do. And I feel for you, man. I do, but we lost you. You weren't the only one suffering those five years and you aren't the only one that lost someone.” He stopped, took a deep breathe and looked down at Oliver from where he stood. “I just need to know what happened, man. I just need to know what you went through over there and I need to know who you are now.” 

He felt like he was pleading. And, by nature, Merlyn's didn't plead. But he was desperate, he didn't want to lose his brother and if Oliver couldn't open up to him then that was going to happen.

“I just need you to talk to me, Ollie.” He finished, all of the bravado rushing out of him as he settled back down on the couch in his old spot. 

Oliver sat there quietly for a few moments, considering, and then finally started talking. 

And once he started, he didn't stop. 

They sat on that couch for hours, until long after the game had ended. 

Oliver told him about what happened that night with Sara, and how his Father hadn't given him a choice. About his first year in Hong Kong and how his life changed after Robert died. He talked about Moria's ultimatum and about how he stayed up for days at a time studying. How he had gotten into bad habits, different ones than in Starling, but still bad and even more dangerous. 

His best friend told him about the girl that he had fallen in love with, Shado and how she had made him want to be a better person. How beautiful and intelligent she had been and how she had been the first person that had made him want to be more. And he told him about how if felt to watch her fall in love with his friend, about watching her struggle with those feelings and how it felt when she walked away from both of them. And then what it felt like to get the call that she had died. 

That was when he had really changed. The death of his Father had hurt, his Mother's abandonment and the distance between him and his friends and his sister was devastating. But nothing had effected the change in him more than having Slade call him and tell him about that Shado was dead, that she had been shot in the head during a mugging gone wrong. Slade blamed him, of course, because he was too blinded by his grief to think, and the only thing he knew for sure was that Oliver had gotten to be with her, even for such a short time. Slade had never gotten to love her like he wanted to, because as soon as she had seen that her being with Slade would destroy the friendship the three of them had built, she decided to walk away completely. Slade blamed Oliver, because if he hadn't been in the picture then Slade and Shado would have been together that night, and he would have protected her. The rage of a grieving man was never logical. 

Oliver had never seen Slade again after the funeral. 

Tommy was stunned. He was speechless as he listened to Oliver, the other man's voice growing rougher as the minutes turned into hours. The end of the Shado story wasn't the end of his time in Hong Kong. He had stayed in Hong Kong for over three years after her death. He had focused all of his time and energy on work and getting his degree finished. He studied all night, worked all day and then punished his body in the gym until he passed out. 

He threw himself into being who he needed to be in order to return to Starling. 

And then Oliver told Tommy the real reason he was returning to Starling. 

He had no desire to run QC, that was his past. He would do it, he would make the company what it once was, but he had a greater long term plan. His plan was to make Starling a better place. A place that wasn't overrun with poverty and corrupt blue bloods. He wanted to right the wrongs that had been done by all of the rich families over the last few generations and give back. 

And he wanted Tommy's help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The turtle hunt had been a bust. 

Not that anyone aside from Thea was surprised. They did get to see hundreds of little sand crabs, though and Thea was just as amused by those as she had expected to be over the turtles. 

The five of them spent hours on the beach that night, not heading up to the house and to bed until nearly 2 am. 

By the time that she made it to her room she was tired, sore and covered in sand. She jumped into her shower to wash off before bed and by the time she got out she had a couple of text messages on her phone. 

When she saw that one was from Caitlin and one from Barry she wasn't too shocked. They were always on the same page, and both of them were on the west coast for the summer so the time difference explained why they were texting her in the middle of the night. 

She read through the messages with a smile. 

**Caitlin: Hey, sweetie. Me and Ronnie and Barry are flying out to the east coast for a festival next week. I know you're staying near it so I was wondering if you'd want us to pop in on you. Let me know**

**Barry: Hey, look Ronnie got us tickets to some festival for Caitlin's birthday in NC. But he forgot to get a hotel and now they are all booked. Can we crash with you? Don't tell Caitlin it's because Ronnie is an idiot.**

She giggled softly to herself and shook her head, shooting off two quick answers to her friends. 

This was going to be interesting. 

Well, at least she wouldn't be as outnumbered in the house now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to be clear, Oliver wants to make Starling a better place, but not in the Arrow way. He had big plans for his city and they don't involve green leather (unfortunately).


	11. Update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Update to let everyone know where this story is going and when to expect some progress.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about this fic, and to be honest I cannot believe that so many people have missed the updates. I also cannot believe how long ago I lost the inspiration to finish it.

I’ve had a lot of life changes in the last 6 months. Some good, some great and some I could have done without.

I lost access to all of my outlines for this fic up until a week ago and now that the weather is changing and my life is stabilizing again. Which is good news for me, and anyone still interested in this fic.

I’ve toyed with the idea of posting starting this weekend. But that feels rushed, and this story deserves more than that. The readers deserve more than that.

So with that said, I’ve decided to start by going back and editing what I have posted. Then I plan to complete the story. I have 17 chapters total in my original outline but that could change as I begin writing again.

Despite when I complete story, I will start posting the first Saturday in May. And then every Saturday after until it’s complete.

I also plan on posting something related to the story every Saturday on my tumblr until then. Whether a quote or scene from the story, or a photo, or song that inspires something in the story.

If you want sneak peaks, I am in need of a beta to help me proofread so shoot me a message. Also, if you just want to give me advice on dialogue, scenes or characterization me me know. I would love to have someone to share this process with.

I have already started posting things, so if you're interested please check out my tumblr (rileyscottwrites) or check under the hashtag #wherethemusicmeetstheocean for any posts related to the story.


	12. And the Record Won't Stop Skipping (and the lies just won't stop slipping)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang meets Nyssa. Roy finally speaks and Barry shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone that was here before the hiatus, and for everyone that is new. I would say that I'm sorry that it had taken so long to start updating this story again, but I won't. I am extremely sorry that those who've loved this story had to wait. But over the last six months or so my life has gone through a lot of changes and I am now finally getting to the point where I'm on the way to the place I'm supposed to be. 
> 
> Also, all updates will be on Saturday's (unless something horrible happens, like yesterday when a four year old slammed his head into mine and cause my forehead and nose to swell up). 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy, and don't hesitate to let me know what you think. Both here and on tumblr.

June 27th

9am

Tommy had known that this summer would change his life. He just hadn't know in what ways. 

After his talk with Oliver the previous afternoon he had started to see his old friend in a whole new light. Growing up Ollie and him had been like brothers. But he had never fully understood the toll that being a Queen has taken on him. 

While Tommy had looked at his father's legacy and wanted to get as far away from it as possible, Oliver wanted to take the legacy of the Queen family and change everything about it. Listening to his friend talk about all the plans he had, all of the ways he was going to bring life back to their city was like watching an artist. Oliver had clearly been planing this for years. All the pieces, all of the details that he had already started to put into place, before he had even left Hong Kong. Tommy was blown away. And he had never felt such pride before in his life. 

The old friends had parted ways last night, once they were both too exhausted, their voices too hoarse to continue. But their talk wasn't over. The discussion was years in he making and would take months to sort out. It gave Tommy his first taste of hope. Hope that he and Oliver would make it past their separation. That they could make their friendship work as adults. 

That they could be brothers again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11am

Sara was nervous. Which she was pretty much accepting as a permanent state for her these days. She was terribly overwhelmed by how eager everyone was about this change in her life. She had expected strong reactions, but not positive ones. Or at least, not this positive. So now that everyone was learning of Nyssa they were insisting on meeting her. Even Felicity, whom had already met the bartender, but her best friend swore that it was different now. 

“I met her as the hot bartender, not your super hot girlfriend. I need to meet her and judge her on different scale. It's part of the package. This is like my Christmas. Don't begrudge me Christmas.” The blonde had told her last night, with some pokes to the side that were a lot sharper than needed. 

She hadn't been amused when Sara had reminded her that she's Jewish. 

So now she was on the way to Nyssa's house, hoping that if they drank enough wine over lunch that she wouldn't stutter when she invited her to dinner at the beach house tonight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1pm

Big family dinner meant big family shopping trip. While Tommy, Oliver and a reluctant Roy were firing up the grill and getting everything set up for an outdoor 'casual cookout' type of dinner (which Sara demanded hoping to take pressure off the girlfriend of it all), Felicity, Laurel and Thea headed into town to load up on food and alcohol. 

Felicity had never had any siblings. She had never really felt like she was cheated on that front, because often times when she was growing up she had felt like her Mom was a sister. Most often Donna reminded her of little sister even. But being around Thea, even for the short time she had known her, Felicity felt like she knew what having a younger sister was like. 

Short answer? A freakin' nightmare. 

She wasn't entirely sure how old the youngest Queen was, but she had to be in her late teens. But you wouldn't guess that once you saw her let loose into a grocery store. Felicity and Laurel watched in horror as Thea bounced from aisle to aisle, loading up on candy and junk food. Her attention span that of a fruit fly. Thry had spanned the entirety of the supermarket in under half an hour, and despite the fact that they had been down every single aisle, they still didn't have a single item that they came for. 

Well, that wasn't true. They did have enough smores supplies to last the remainder of the summer. Even if they had them for every meal. 

Finally, Felicity and Laurel worked out a plan, whispering to each other while the younger girl was distracted by the endless choices when it came to goldfish crackers. While Laurel grabbed Thea and directed her to the magazine aisle, Felicity made her way back through the store, replacing all the junk with things that they actually needed. 

When the time came to check out Thea didn't even notice. Mostly because she was too busy loading her 13 fashion magazines on the belt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3pm

By the time the ladies got back from the store, and the food for tonight was all sorted and put away, the guys had managed to set up everything for the big dinner. 

Oliver was pretty excited, if he was honest with himself. Yes, he had been here for dinners, and even welcome to a few of them. But this wasn't just a normal dinner. If was sort of like they were welcoming someone else into the family. A family that, despite everything, he was a part of. It was a pretty great feeling. 

Laurel and Tommy were happy. Thea and her punk boyfriend seemed happy. And now he would get to see Sara happy with her new girlfriend? Partner? Lover? He would probably stick to referring to her simply as Nyssa. 

It was nice, getting to be an adult with these people that he had known only as children. 

They were all adults. That's what he kept reminding himself of every time he looked over and saw his sister sitting in Roy's lap. 

“Hey, Roy. You mind helping me move these chairs out onto the beach? Like right now?” He called over, hoping to give the couple some air before they both passed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5pm

“Are you sure you're ready for this?” Sara asked for maybe the seventh time in the last few hours. 

Nyssa chuckled softly, pulling gently on Sara's hand, tugging the blonde into her. 

“Are you sure you are?” She asked, her tone open and accepting. She knew what a huge step this was for Sara. From their talks she knew that the younger girl had always been at odds with he family in one way or another. And while Sara thought that a huge part of it was her sexuality, Nyssa knew it was deeper than that. She also knew that this dinner was her friends idea, and not Sara's. And she feared that maybe the blonde was pushing herself too far too fast. 

The women stood there, Sara's head resting her head in the crook of Nyssa's neck, breathing her in. Nyssa's heart rate picked up, and she was certain that Sara was going to pull back and then say this was a mistake. That it was too soon. She was bracing herself to make a neutral face when Sara placed a soft, sweet kiss on the soft spot between her neck and shoulder and then backed away. 

“Let's do this thing.” She said with a practiced smirk, using the hold that Nyssa has initiated to pull her behind her, up the stairs to the beach house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laurel smiled when she heard the front door open. She knew when Sara and Nysaa were due to arrive, so while everyone else was out on the back patio, watching the grill and chatting, she had stayed behind. She wanted a second alone with her sister and the woman in her life before the couple was wrapped up in the rest of the group. 

Her smile grew when she turned to face the living room and saw Sara and Nyssa come through the kitchen, holding hands. Sara spotted her immediately and while she stumbled a little, her face remained open and happy. 

“Heya, sis.” Sara said, her smile softening her face. 

“Sara.” Laurel acknowledged. Then she turned to the woman that was now standing beside her little sister. They stood so close it was like they were one person. Nyssa was angled into Sara, their hips touching. It seemed insane to Laurel that they could possibly be this close so soon. They seemed to gravitate towards each other. Laurel was a bit taken aback that she hadn't noticed this the other night at the bar. That she hadn't noticed the change in her sister. She shook herself, this was not the time for reflection. 

“You must be Nyssa. I'm really sorry that we didn't get the opportunity to meet properly at the bar. I'm Laurel.” She said, her smile widening as she stepped closer, her hand reaching out to shake Nyssa's. The brunette quickly crossed the remaining distance and smiled softly. “It's nice to meet you Laurel. Sara has spoken very highly of you.” 

Laurel titled her head in thanks, finally running her eyes of the other woman. She was stunning. She wore her long dark hair down, curled into her make up free face. She had dressed casually for the dinner, a knee length sundress that flowed around her legs in the breeze coming through the open kitchen doors. 

“Well,” Laurel said, gesturing to the back of the house “Everyone else had already made their way outside. Wanna join them?” 

Sara nodded, her eyes a little misty all of sudden, and Laurel grabbed Nyssa's arm pulling the women out behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara breathed in a huge sigh of relief. They had all sat down to a huge dinner over half an hour ago and so far nothing had gone awry. Nyssa seemed to blend into the group without any trouble. Food was passed around, drink poured and they all talked openly and no one seemed to be judging Nyssa in the slightest. Well, except for Felicity. She kept randomly spouting off questions. 

“Hey, Nyssa. How do you feel about reality tv?” She had asked as the potato salad was making the rounds. Nyssa smiled as if she had been expecting the question. “The cheesier the better.” She had responded. 

“Nyssa, if you had to choose, Buffy or Xena?” The blonde had questioned at one point when she had downed her third glass of white. Nyssa seemed to consider the question seriously for a few seconds before she shook her head. “That would be an impossible choice. I'm afraid I have to refrain.”

And the questions continued over the course of dinner. They ranged from pop culture to foods to politics. Laurel and Tommy had even joined in to toss a few at Nyssa. 

By the end, as the table was being cleared, Felicity had snuck up to Sara's side and informed her that she might have to steal Nyssa away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7pm

If you asked Tommy, he would say that the dinner went exceptionally well. Especially considering most of those in attendance hadn't even been speaking a few weeks ago. 

They had all sat around the table, laughing and talking and eating way more than was healthy. And Nyssa had seemed to fit right into their little group. Felicity seemed particularly excited about having someone to annoy Sara with.

Now that dinner was done and they had finally managed to put away all of the leftover and dumped all of the dishes into the sink for the following morning, they had finally made their way down to the beach. 

Despite Oliver forcing Roy to help him set up chairs earlier in the day, they found themselves sitting on the sand while watching Thea and Nyssa setting up the bonfire. Tommy smirked as Thea once again poked herself with a stick and yelped, tightening his grip on Laurel's waist. 

He flinched when he felt a seashell thumped into the side of his head. He turned his face to glare at Felicity, who was grinning a little to happily in his opinion. 

“That's assault you know?” He asked with a quirked brow. The girl just smiled, rolling her eyes. 

“I called your name like 5 times, dork. I need a favor before I forget.” She said, coming to flop down beside him and Laurel. 

“You preface a favor by launching something that smells like fish ass at my head. That tracks.” He teased. 

“I talked to some friends of mine last night and they're gonna be in town sometime next week. Would it be cool if they crash for a bit?” Felicity asked, giving him the big eyes she knew he couldn't resist. 

He rolled his eyes and nodded. “Yeah that's totally fine....wait. How many friends? I only asked the caretaker to open up 6 rooms for the summer. There might not be enough room.” He told her, wrinkling his brow. 

Felicity just shrugged while nodding. “Yeah that's all good. Ronnie and Caitlin will be sharing and Barry can just crash with me.” She said casually. Tommy groaned.

“Barry? Barry Allen is coming?” He asked, dropping his head down onto Laurel's. 

Then he heard a gasp from a few feet away. “Barry Allen?!” Sara yelped, rushing over to land in the sand behind Felicity. It was Felicity's turn to groan. 

“Barry is coming here? Felicity?! Is this true?” Sara asked, her face awash with excitement. 

Felicity nodded reluctantly. 

Tommy watched in amusement as Sara worked herself up, bouncing in the sand like a child. “Is he coming alone?” She asked an evil grin on her face. 

“Well, he's coming with Ronnie and Caitlin. But in the way you mean, yes. He's coming alone.” Felicity answered and even though it was clear that Tommy wasn't a part of the conversation anymore, he still found the interaction between the girls fascinating. 

“Hmmmm.” Sara smirked. “Well, that's shitty for me. But great news for you.” The blonde teased. 

“No. No. No no. No.” Felicity countered. “Just because he's coming alone doesn't mean that he is alone. Besides. You've got Nyssa now. There is no need for you to flirt with Len endlessly anymore.” 

Sara laughed loud and obnoxiously. “Oh, babe, that was never the reason for me to flirt with Lenny. He's just so damn tasty. But speaking of tasty, if Len is out of the picture maybe you won't spend the whole summer celibate. I have missed Barry.” 

Now Felicity just looked uncomfortable. She looked around the group quickly and seemed to be relived that Oliver was down by the water with Roy, out of earshot. 

Interesting. 

“You've missed Barry? You don't even like Barry.” Felicity said once she had calmed. 

“I like Barry.” Sara insisted. “He blushes. I didn't even know guys did that.” She shrugged. “Wait. Did you say that Ronnie and Cait are coming with him?” She asked suddenly with a groan. 

Felicity laughed. “Yes. And I will never understand why you hate Caitlin so much.” 

Sara huffed, standing up to walk back over to Nyssa and Thea now that they had finally managed to set up the frame for the fire. “I don't hate 'Doctor Snow'” She said with air quotes that made Tommy raise his brows. “I just find her to be a little too chilly.” She smirked. 

Felicity tossed another seashell at Sara's back and she walked away. “You're worse than Len.” She yelled. Sara spun back around with a smile. “The highest of compliments Ms. Smoak.”

When Felicity turned back towards him and Laurel she didn't seem amused at their blatant stares.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11pm

It was getting closer to midnight by the time the bonfire had started to wind down. 

The night had seemed to fly by. They were constantly surrounded by chatter and laughing. The sangria flowed and everyone seemed to be covered in melted chocolate and Oliver could have sworn he had stepped in sand covered melted marshmallows at least twice. 

His face hurt, a combination of too much sun and too much smiling. He had spent the night mostly with Roy, wanting to get to know they guy that his sister wanted to sit on all the time. He seemed like a decent enough guy. Didn't talk much, but maybe that was a good thing. But now that the night was ending he wanted nothing more than to finish the night beside Felicity.

So he made his way over to her and his sister sitting on the opposite side of the fire. They were laughing together about something and he started to get a little flicker of worry when they turned to face him, evil grins in place. 

“What?” He asked, not totally sure he wanted to know. 

“Oh, nothing. I was just sitting here, talking to your sister and found out the most interesting thing.” Felicity told him, her eyes lighting up. 

“Oh yeah? And what would that be?” He questioned wondering if he should make a run for it now. 

“Just that you used to sing her to sleep. It seems that you're quite the singer.” She said, her smile growing bigger as his face grew more terrified. 

“Nope. Not gonna happen.” He informed them quickly before this could get out of hand. 

“Yes.” Thea and Felicity said in unison. 

“No.” He returned with just as much conviction as them. 

The women exchanged glances, and Oliver knew this was about to turn into a battle that he would eventually lose when Roy can over to flop down beside Thea. 

Thea turned to her boyfriend with a smile. “Baby, tell Ollie he has to sing for us. Make him do it.” She prompted the younger man. He and Oliver looked at each other, Oliver trying to intimidate the other man as much as he could with a look. Roy just rolled his eyes, and Oliver knew it deep down that Thea was clearly the scarier sibling regardless. 

Despite that, Roy decided to cut Oliver a break anyhow and he just shrugged. “I'll do it.” The young man said, pulling his hood up a little to fight the breeze coming off the water. Oliver just stared, a little shocked. 

Thea and Felicity however, they both started to clap excitedly. 

“Deal.” Oliver heard from behind him as Sara and Nyssa came to sit on the now crowded side of the fire. “Hey, guys.” Sara shouted over to Laurel and Tommy who were wading around in the water. “Get up here, the punk in the hoodie is gonna sing us a song.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thea smiled as Roy rolled his eyes, watching everyone crowd around to listen to him sing. She knew everyone was surprised when he had offered to take Oliver's place on the chopping block. But while everyone else always saw Roy as a broody jerk, she knew that he just took a long time to warm up to everyone. And she also knew that he would do just about anything to make her smile, and him singing to her was always dorky enough to make her smile. 

“Alright, your highness, what do you wanna hear?” He questioned her, the pet name one that he knew she hated. 

She pretended to think about it, tapping her chin with a finger, starring up at the stars. 

“Hmmmm. How about the beach one.” She suggested, drawing it out. Roy huffed a laugh. That was the song she always wanted. 

“Okay, okay.” He conceded, smiling as he looked down at the sand, grabbing her hand loosely.

Thea smiled big, rocking into Felicity with her shoulder as Roy cleared his throat. 

_“It was our first week_  
At Carolina Beach  
Where it all began” 

Roy started and Thea laughed when he changed up the lyrics, his husky voice halting a little over the change. 

_“It was 102°_  
Nothin' to do  
Man it was hot  
So we jumped in  
We were summertime sippin', sippin'  
Sweet tea kissin' off of your lips  
T-shirt drippin', drippin' wet  
How could I forget?  
Watchin' that brown hair swing  
To every song I'd sing  
You were Carolina beautiful  
I was playin' everything but cool  
I can still hear that sound  
Of every wave crashin' down  
Like the tears we cried  
That day we had to leave  
It was everything we wanted it to be  
The summer of  
19 you and me” 

Thea stopped starring at Roy, moving her gaze over her friends with a smile. They all looked so shocked, and pleased, listening to him sing. She knew that feeling. 

Her and Roy had only been together for a few weeks when he had found her crying after a phone call with Ollie. That was when she had opened up to him for the first time about her brother. That was when she had told him how much she missed Oliver singing her to sleep when she'd had a bad day. So Roy had simply wrapped his arms around her shoulders, resting her head on his chest and had started to sing. He had song this same song, claiming it had been on in the grocery store and had gotten stuck in his head. Ever since then, whenever Thea was having a bad day he would sing her the song. It had never failed to make her smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July 2nd

8am

The past few days had flown by. Once Nyssa had been introduced to the group she had come around a few more times. And now that they all seemed comfortable with each other, the group had started to spend more time at The League. 

But today was the day. Barry, Ronnie, and Caitlin would be arriving sometime midday and Felicity was more than a little excited. She loved Sara, and Laurel and Tommy. And she was even getting attached to Oliver, Thea and Roy. But having some people here that were just hers was going to be a pleasant change. 

She knew she still had a few hours left to go before the gang got there so she decided to get in some beach time. Sara had of course spent the night at Nyssa's and she knew that Tommy and Laurel were spending the day in town with Thea, Roy and Oliver so she figured she would have some time to herself. She dressed into her beach wear quickly, grabbing her book and a towel and made her way out to the water. 

She had just made her way down the walkway when she froze. 

Felicity saw the young man from behind, his baggy basketball shorts, sneakers and the hood pulled over his head. As she walked down the steps to the sand she felt a smile pull at her lips, and she started to bound down the stairs faster, feeling the excitement build in her chest.

She would know those slumped over shoulders, and bony legs anywhere.

As soon as her toes flexed into the sand she threw her arms out, dropping her book and towel and took off at a run. By the time she has reached the man she couldn’t control herself any more starting to laugh, and just as he turned to face her in question she pounced.

As they made contact she jumped into his open arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. The young man had little to no time to react, but after years of being in Felicity Smoak’s life, he was used to this. So in seconds he had his arms wrapped around her back and worked to correct his stance to accommodate the extra weight.

Which would have worked.

If Felicity hadn’t started wiggling around in his arms.

“Barry Allen!!!!!!” She yelled in excitement, her hands knocking the hood from his head and went to land a huge kiss on his forehead (that she knew he would despise). And since he did despise it, he jerked his head back with a laugh, and the next thing he saw was Felicity’s eyes widen with fear.

Because they were going down. In a big way.

“Ugh.” Barry grunted as his back slammed into the wet sand, and Felicity started to scramble off of him.

“Wow, Barry. I knew you would be happy to see me, but it’s been ages since you’ve gotten me to straddle you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver groaned as the sun hit his eyes, coming through the window. 

This was the latest he had slept in months, possibly years. He had his morning routine. But last night he , Thea and Roy had stayed out late on the beach, drinking and catching up. Just like Tommy, he had plans for his little sister. As a Queen he needed her help in restoring Starling City as well. 

But staying out so late had derailed his plans and when Thea had swung by his room that morning to wake him for their day on the town he had thrown a pillow at her and went back to sleep. But if he wanted to accomplish anything today he needed to force himself out of the bed. He got ready quickly, slipping on his trunks and grabbing a towel so that he could at least get his morning swim in. 

He made his way down to the beach, he head still swimming a little when he heard laughter. He recognized it instantly, and smiled.

Felicity. 

He picked up the pace a little, eager to see her. But then as he got to the end of the walkway, ready to run down the steps he looked over and saw her. She was literally wrapped around a stranger. A man stranger. They were laughing together, spinning as the guy held his in his arms. The man was fully dressed in basketball shorts and a hoodie, but Felicity was in her standard bikini. And the man had his hands splayed over her back, and they were both covered in sand. Like they had both been on the ground recently. 

Oliver was struck dumb by the sight in front of him, and everything in him told him to turn around and go back into the house, that this wasn't any of his business. 

But then the guy stopped laughing long enough to look past the wild, blonde, windswept hair that Felicity was shaking in his face, and spotted Oliver. 

The man must have said something because then Felicity was looking at him, her eyes surprised. 

He should have just stayed in bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Concerns? Comments? 
> 
> Next chapter we will actually see some Olicity action. And of course more Barry, with some Snowstorm thrown in.


	13. I'm Just a Notch in Your Bedpost (but you're just a line in a song)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Felicity reconnect and Oliver is not pouting. For real. He's not. Shut up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is 98% Barry and Felicity interactions, but 92% Olicity. I know that doesn't sound logical, but I don't subscribe to most logic. It'll make sense, I promise.

July 2nd

8am

“Felicity?” Barry asked causally, turning his head to spit out the sand that he had sucked in when they crashed to the ground. 

“Yeah?” She responded, shaking the hair out of her face and into his. 

“Are you planning on getting off of me anytime soon?” His voice was muffled by the salty blonde hair in his mouth. 

Felicity shrugged lightly, lifting up a little and bracing her arms on his chest. “Hadn't thought too much about it. Why?” She stated, looking around like she didn’t have a care in the world. 

“My ass itches.” Barry returned, his lip curling up into a small smirk. 

Felicity laughed, louder than she had in months and started to climb off of him.“I would say tmi, but we both know that would be a lie.” She made sure to elbow him in the ribs, but just hard enough to draw a 'umpf' sound from him as she helped him to his feet. 

When they were both back on their feet, sand covering them they shared a short moment of silence, just happy to see the other again. But then Felicity poked him hard in the chest. “What are you doing here, Allen? I thought you and the other weren't coming in until tonight?” She questioned as he started to rub the spot on his chest where she had surely left a bruise. 

Barry rolled his eyes. “They are both so freaking gross ever since the engagement. I can't be around them for too long. So instead of coming in with them I decided to catch the train. They'll be here around 8, as scheduled.” He told her, and if it were anyone but Felicity she may have just taken that a face value. But since she had known him for so long, and once upon a time, intimately, she knew there was more to his early arrival. 

“What did he do this time?” She asked directly, her hands on her hips. Barry looked her over and fought the urge to smile. Felicity was the only person he knew that could look like such a bad ass in a bikini, covered in sand. He fought the smile because he knew she wouldn't return it. She meant business. 

He didn't even try to pretend that he didn't know who the 'he' she was asking about was. Felicity had never been a huge fan of Barry's boyfriend. Not because she disliked Len as a person. They actually got along quite well. She didn't even have an issue with the fact that Barry had started dating Len so shortly after that had stopped sleeping together. No, she had been thrilled when Barry had told her he had met someone. She had always wanted nothing more than for Barry to be happy. 

And while Len made Barry feel a lot of things, happy wasn't always one of them. 

So he looked away from her, up to the beach house that he would be crashing in for the next few days a sighed. “He, um. He left. Again.” He told her, still looking towards the beach house. He wished that the moisture in his eyes was from the wind alone. 

“Oh, Barry.” She said in a way that only Felicity could. “I'm sorry.”

He nodded and smiled sadly. Shaking his head he folded his shoulders over, making himself smaller. “I just hate being there without him, you know? It's like everyone knows. And everyone pity’s me and I just can't take it. He has to leave. I know that. It's what I signed on for. It's who he is, it's part of why I -” He paused to huff out a bitter laugh. “It's part of what I love about him. Doesn't change the fact that when he leaves it takes a piece of me with him.” 

Felicity squinted up at him, the sun just now starting to make itself inconvenient, and pursed her lips. Then held out her arms, wide, like she was about to tell him that she loves him _thhhhiiiisssss_ much. When he looked down at her in confused she just turned her palms to him and made a 'c'mere' gesture with her open hands. He laughed shortly, shaking his head. She was persistent though and continued to do it, occasionally throwing in a persuasive 'bring it on in” but he just pushed her away with a chuckle. 

So she switched tactics and raised her arms above her head, like a toddler asking to be picked up. Barry knew she was just doing it to make him laugh, and didn't actually expect him to lift her off the ground. But she was helping his sour mood so much that he just went with it and quickly grabbed her about the waist and lifted her. She laughed, sounded surprised and wrapped her self around him. 

They were laughing and spinning around in the sand when Barry caught glimpse of a man standing a few dozen feet from them, looking like he was torn between running away and charging. He would ordinarily find humor in something like that. But this guy was pretty large and could probably take Barry out in about 5 seconds so instead he turned his head into Felicity's neck for a second on told her they had company. 

He expected her to be curious. To maybe turn her head to see. But instead she stiffened in his arms, and her head whipped around. As soon as she saw the guy on the beach she was scrambling to get out of his arms, all humor gone. Barry released his arms, tucking his hands into his pockets and backed away a few steps. 

“Oliver. Hi.” Felicity said, and Barry didn't like her voice. She sounded like she had been caught doing something she wasn't allowed. 

The man, Oliver, he presumed had finally made his decision and was heading their way. Though he looked to Barry like he would rather be walking into ocean with cement shoes more than he wanted to be walking their direction. 

“Who's your friend?” Oliver asked, in lieu of a greeting. Barry liked his voice even less. So instead of leaving the introductions to Felicity, Barry stuck his hand around her and towards the other man. 

“Barry. Allen.” He offered, waiting a few beats before realizing that Oliver wasn't going to be taking his hand. 

Instead Oliver just nodded. “Oliver.” Was is only response. 

Barry nodded. “Queen. Yeah, I know.” Barry finished for him. Now that the man was so close Barry was surprised that he didn't recognize him before. He should have put it together, what with this being Tommy Merlyn's beach house after all. He just wasn't aware that the Queen heir was back stateside. 

The air was heavy around the trio, and not from the early morning humidity. Felicity stood in between the two men, them both towering over her. Now that the initial shock of Oliver seeing her wrapped around Barry had worn off, she realized that she was annoyed. More so at herself for reacting the way she did, than for the testosterone battle taking place around her, but that was easier to deal with than her own brain at the moment. 

“Felicity. Smoak.” She contributed, even though they both knew damn well who she was. She just wanted to remind them both that she was a real human person. 

She turned to Oliver when the men seemed to snap out of their starting contest and smiled. “Oliver, this is my friend Barry. We know each other from Boston. He's one of the friends that's going to be crashing here for a few days while they're in town for a music festival.” She explain cordially, like she was talking to her parent or something. 

Oliver broke eye contact with Barry to look down at her, his eyes flicking back and forth. 

“Friend?” He questioned, and Felicity felt herself flush. That sounded really judgy coming from Oliver Queen, and it took a lot of the strength that Felicity had honed over her years of dealing with presumptive frat boys, and smiled at him. 

“Yes. His best friend/foster sister and Sara were lab partners sophomore year. Barry and Iris are kind of a package deal. We've been buds ever since.” She explained. She felt like she was being quizzed, and was compelled to give more information that she probably would have to anyone else in the house. 

Not that anyone else would need to ask. Sara, Laurel and Tommy were well aware of her and Barry's situation. 

Oliver looked the two of the over again, watching Barry shifting behind her and nodded. 

“Well it's nice to meet you, kid.” Oliver said, his 'Ollie Queen' smile taking over. He noticed Barry flinch at the nickname and felt the need for a fist pump but refrained. “I hope you make yourself at home. There are only one room left over, but I'm sure you and your other friends can double up. Or I know at least one of the couches folds out.” He offered, his 'son of a politician' smile still in full force. 

Felicity hummed, raising a finger to tap her bottom lip. But Barry smiled as big as Oliver had seen from him so far. “Actually, man, I'm gonna crash with Felicity. We haven't had any bonding time in a while, and we wanted to catch up. Right, Smoak?” He asked her, wrapping a hand around her waist and popping his head onto hers with a grin. 

When Oliver turned to start his morning swim, it was Barry that felt like a victory fist pump was in order. 

Felicity did one too. To Barry's gut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10am

“Oh, come on. It was funny!” Barry insisted as he flopped down onto Felicity's bed, his arms behind his head. Felicity turned to glare at him again as she dug through her dresser to find something non swimwear related to change into. 

“Dude, he was practically pissing all over you. I just wanted to rattle him a little.” Barry teased, biting his lip to keep from laughing. 

“Oh yeah, he was the only one with the tape measure.” His friend hissed, flinging the drawer shut, punctuating her point with a wave of a tank top. 

“You know what I don't get? Why you didn't tell me you were seeing **THE** Oliver Queen? He never struck me as your type. I mean, I know Tommy is like your soulmate or whatever, but he's not the same beast.” He told her causally, flipping through the book her had found on her bedside table. He heard her squawk, and then land beside him on the bed. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” She asked, her voice a much higher pitch than should be allowed. 

“Hey, I'm not judging. I'm the last person to judge, look at Len. And I'm happy for you. I don't think you've even went to the movies with a guy since Cooper. And if I'm the last guy to see your boobs then that is such a waste.” He joked, sitting the book aside to look at her. 

She looked at him like he was talking Klingon.

“I'm not dating Oliver.” She told him, her eyes wide like she was astounded he would even suggest such a thing. 

“You're not?” He asked in disbelief. 

“Um, not that I'm aware of.” She said on a laugh. 

Barry started to chuckle. And before he knew it he was rolling around on the bed, hunched over laughing so hard it hurt. The only thing that stopped him was Felicity poking him in the ribs over and over. Finally the pain won out over his laughter and he stopped. 

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” He told her. “But that poor guy.” He said, still laughing lightly. 

“What does that mean?” Felicity asked him, looking annoyed at his antics. 

“That dude is so gone on you. Man, I was just messing with him because I thought he was the jealous boyfriend. Now I feel bad. He probably thinks we're up here-” He broke off with another loud bought of laughter and Felicity huffed. She rolled onto her back, propped herself back up on the pillows, and crossed her arms over her chest with a pout. 

“Oliver Queen is not 'gone on me'.” She muttered. 

That just made Barry laugh harder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

12pm

After Barry had finally calmed down, the friends decided to grab lunch in town. They found a small diner that was a little too busy for Barry's liking but Felicity didn't seem to mind so they moved their way to the back of the restaurant and grabbed a booth. 

Over lunch they made small talk, catching up on the last few months that they had been apart. Felicity had told Oliver the truth, for the most part, about the origins of their friendship. She had left out a lot though. 

Which considering the situation, was probably for the best. They had meet though Iris and Sara, that was true. At the time they met, Barry had still be harboring a life long crush on his foster sister and best friend. They had lived together, had seen each other everyday for over 10 years before they went away to college. Barry had remained home, going to the local college since it had the best forensics program in the country. Iris had chosen to go to Cambridge for their amazing journalism program. They were separated for the first time in their lives. Iris was sad, but Barry was devastated. So being the lovesick teenager that he was he spent every weekend he could in Boston with Iris. 

Over time it became clear to everyone (but Iris) that Barry was in love with her. When Felicity had confronted him with it a year into their casual friendship he had broken down. She then became his confidant. When Iris began dating Eddie, a cop from their home town that she had met her first week home for the summer, Barry was crushed. So he had decided to spend his first summer away from home and went to stay with Felicity while she was taking summer classes. 

At first with the two of them spending so much time alone together, it seemed like the obvious choice for them to start dating. They had so much in common. They were perfect for each other. But Barry was in love with Iris. And Felicity was still scarred from a bad break up in her freshman year. But just because they couldn't make a relationship work, it didn't mean that they didn't still share a connection. 

One month into their summer together they started sleeping together. And even when the summer ended they just sort of never stopped. Over time it made their lives easier. They remained friends, and had each other to fight the loneliness that their failed relationships caused. 

It worked great until last year, when Barry finished his undergrad and started interning at Central City PD. There he met Leonard Snart. Len was a cop, but so deep undercover that very few in the precinct actually knew. He had grown up in a nasty family, full of criminals. That gave him an edge, and a way into the criminal organization in and around Central City. Barry had met him when he was in the station, getting debriefed from his latest assignment. 

The first time he had laid eyes on Len, the first time he had called him 'kid', Barry knew that he was a goner. So on his next trip to Boston he had ended things with Felicity. She hadn't even flinched. They had both known that they were outgrowing their need for each other for some time. 

He and Len slept together for the first time a month later. The next morning Len was sent to Coast City for a new assignment. 

So even though he and Felicity had stopped their physical relationship, they still held tight to their emotional one. He was just used to being the only pathetic one. Now, looking at Felicity as she tore into her burger and chattered on about her final year of grad school he felt a tug in his chest. It was time that he tried to help her fix her love life crap. 

“So.” He said, giving an extra loud slurp to his milkshake, interrupting her ramble. “Oliver.” He said simply, eyebrows raised. 

She rolled her eyes and then swiped one of his fries. 

“So. Len.” She returned with a smirk. 

“Oh no.” He said. “I already spilled the beans on this one a hundred times. My super hot, older boyfriend has commitment issues and is undercover as a criminal at least 32 weeks out of the year. Boohoo, my life sucks. Your turn.”

“I don't even know what to say Barry.” She confessed, looking down at her now empty plate and she felt a little sick. 

“Just tell me about him.” He offered and she nodded. 

“He, uh. Well you know. He has an important family. He got a pretty rough deal when his dad died and he's been in Hong Kong working to get back to Starling. He's coming back to be the CEO of Queen Consolidated.” She told him, shrugging. 

Barry rolled his eyes. “I don't want press release, I'm not Iris.” 

“Okay. He's funny, I guess. He tells awful jokes actually? I guess he was too busy cramming 6 years of college into 3 when he was overseas to watch movies and tv. He likes to ride his motorcycle when he wants to be alone. He exercises way too much, which I guess explain the eight pack and the whole beast thing he has going on. He loves his sister. And not in the 'hey she's my little sister so that's cool' kind of way. He like really, really loves her? Like more than anything. He hates himself a little? He made a lot of crappy choices when he was younger but he seems like hes trying to fix them even when he thinks he can't.” She paused, her eyes flicking up to Barry's and then looked back out the window taking a deep breath. 

“He's smart. Like super smart. Not like me smart, or you smart. But still really smart. He is just different. Different than I thought he would be. Not that I had a lot to go on, really. I mean, I know now that he's the reason Sara and Laurel are all weird with each other, and is the reason Laurel has been so hard on Tommy. And he has a lot of baggage. I mean a lot. Even more than you. But when I'm with him? I don't really notice it? He talks to me about his family, and stupid stuff, and important stuff. It's nice. He's nice. And I'm just blabbering at this point. I don't even know, I'm not making any sense.” She said, laughing forcefully and Barry smiled. 

Felicity babbled. A lot. But not over boys. 

“You like him.” He concluded from her word vomit. 

She opened her mouth to protest and then sighed instead. 

“It's just the summer, Felicity. In a few months you'll be back in Boston, and he'll be back in Starling. It's just the summer. If you like him, and he obviously likes you, then why can't you guys spend some time together? It's not the end of the world either way, but I just don't see why you can't enjoy being here together, now. It just seems like more work to fight it than to embrace it and have fun while it lasts.” He offered, his palms laying flat on the table in between them. 

“Since when are you wise?” She asked, starring at his hands. 

“Hey, I'm dating a guy with gray hairs. I'm an adult now.” He said, super serious, and smiled with she snorted. 

“Dude, I saw your superman boxers when you were changing earlier.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8pm

After lunch, Barry and Felicity had walked around town for a few hours, talking and goofing off. By the time the air had started to cool they headed back to the house to wait for Ronnie and Caitlin. When they had arrived the rest of the group had gotten back from their day out and the house was full. 

Felicity introduced Barry to everyone, except of course Oliver, who still looked like he had swallowed something sour when Barry walked in. After her talk with Barry at the diner, Felicity had actively been thinking about anything but Oliver the rest of the day. But now that they were in the same room again and he kept shooting her and Barry hurt looks, she couldn't help but consider her friends advice. 

She wasn't totally sure of her feelings for Oliver. She hadn't really let herself think too much about it. She was clearly attracted to him. And she did really enjoy spending time with him, but there was so much involved in him. She didn't know if she could just have something casual with him the way she had with Barry. But, she thought to herself, if anyone on the planet could do casual, it was Oliver Queen. That thought bothered her more than it should. 

They were all hanging out in the living room, making plans to head out to the beach to start another bonfire when they heard the doorbell. Felicity felt a spark of excitement as she bounced over to the door. She hadn't gotten change to see her friends since they had gotten engaged over Christmas. She had never been really close to Ronnie and Caitlin, them being more Barry's friends than hers, but she was still really happy for the couple. 

She swung open the front door and launched herself at them as soon as they were in sight and squealed. The 3 of them stood in the doorway for a few minutes, starring at the ring and chatting before they moved further into the house. Introductions were made and after Ronnie thanked Tommy (quietly) for saving his ass they all moved out the back of the house and down to the beach. As the sun went down the fire was in full force (turned out that Ronnie was much better with the fire than the rest of them), and they all settled in. 

Ronnie gazed happily at Caitlin as she went on and on about the festival that was starting the following day and Barry laid with his head propped up on a towel, texting on his phone. Felicity listened to her friends, her eyes shifting back and forth to Barry to see his occasional smiles, and knew that meant he was getting a rare moment to talk to Len. After a while Sara brought Nyssa over to them to give a better introduction of Nyssa. Felicity was proud that Ronnie, Caitlin and Barry barely blinked when they had first met the bartender. No one showed any surprise, and Sara seemed to let out a sigh of relief. After a while Barry put away his phone with a frown and then Sara started in on her typical teasing of him. 

“So, where is my boyfriend?” She asked with a smirk. “Did he finally decide to smarten up? Should I be waiting for his call?” She taunted. 

Felicity was always worried that Sara's and Len's constant flirting would get to Barry one day. Especially in a time like this, when Barry was missing him so much. But despite the fact that Barry wasn't sure when he would see Len again, he was still incredibly secure in his loyalty. 

So Barry did what he usually did when Sara started in on him. He smirked and then turned to Nyssa with a wink. “I dunno. But I'll bet that they chances of him calling you and the same as Nyssa and me running away together.” He teased back. 

To Felicity's surprise, and delight, Nyssa laughed. “I wouldn't totally discount that, Mr. Allen. Sara was right. You are quote adorable when you blush.” She told Barry with a smile. 

Felicity looked around and felt comfortable that she could leave them alone with a small amount of bloodshed. Then she turned and looked where she knew Oliver was, sitting with his sister, while Roy, Laurel and Tommy were poking at the fire with marshmallows. She kept her eyes on his until he looked up to meet them, and then she smiled. 

He seemed surprised, his brow furrowed. Taking a deep breath felicity took a chance, slowly getting to her feet. She let Barry know she was going for a walk and then looked back at Oliver. She kept her eyes on his as she walked past the fire. She was a few feet down the beach, away from the group when she heard footsteps and smiled softly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver had been stealing glances at Felicity and her friends for the past hour. She looked happy. 

It pissed him off. 

He didn't understand who this Barry guy was. He had just shown up out of nowhere and was suddenly everywhere. He knew he was being a little douchey about it, but he was bothered by the fact that Felicity hadn't mentioned this guy. Not that she was required to tell him if she had a boyfriend. But he felt blindsided. 

He had even gone so far as to ask Tommy about him. Tommy had just smiled and said “I don't really know what they're doing right now. Actually, they've always been kind of a mystery to me. Why don't you ask Felicity?” 

But he couldn't just ask her. That would lead to questions that he didn't want to answer. And probably provide answers that he didn't want. So he had just sulked like a big old baby all day. 

But then she had looked over at him. And smiled. Her smile seemed almost shy and it made something clench in his chest. When she looked back over at Barry, and then rose to her feet he was disappointed. He expected her and Barry to go back up to the house. But then she met his eyes again and started to walk down the beach. He was so confused for a second. But then Thea had wacked him on the head with one of her sandals. “Just go after her, idiot. That's what she was asking for with the moon eyes.” She told him, a look of great annoyance on her face. He whipped his head at her, starting to ask her if she was sure, but he really didn't want to be hit again so instead he jumped to his feet. 

The last bonfire he had wanted to end his night with Felicity, and his plans had quickly changed. Maybe tonight he would have better luck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey.” She heard Oliver say from behind her. He was quiet, like he was afraid that he was disturbing her. 

“Hey.” She returned, looking over at him as he met her pace. “Sorry about this morning.” She said, not really meaning to. She wasn't totally sure what she had intended to say, but that wasn't it. 

Oliver winced. “Yeah that was awkward. I'm sorry, too.”

“Yeah. Why was that?” She asked with a chuckle. 

“I guess I was just thrown off. I didn't know you had a boyfriend.” He answered honestly. 

Felicity laughed, loud and hard. Oliver looked over at her, his face a little hurt in the moonlight. 

She waved her hand at him, shaking her head. “No, no. I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing because that is almost exactly what Barry said to me afterward.” She told him and when he looked confused she added “Meaning you. He thought we were dating.” 

Oliver paused. “Wait, what?”

“I'm single, Oliver. Barry is just my friend. Yes, he used to be more." She confessed, wanting to be honest and prevent any miscommunication. " And during that time we developed a weird closeness and now we have no boundaries.” She explained. Oliver still looked confused. 

“So you're not sleeping him?” He asked bluntly and then the tips of his ears reddened. Felicity just giggled. “Not anymore. I think his boyfriend would be annoyed by that.” She told him, hoping this made it clear.

Oliver seemed relived at that and then chuckled. They walked along in silence for a few moments, the light from the bonfire growing smaller. Then Oliver stopped, and Felicity turned to him. 

“So, Barry thought we had something going on?” He asked, seeming nervous. 

“Yeah. That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually.” Felicity said, fully facing him now. 

Oliver sucked in a breath and his eyes widened. “Talk? About, about that? What about that? You wanted to talk?” He questioned, rapid fire and Felicity winced. “Is that what it's like for people when I get going? Ouch.” 

Oliver groaned. “I'm sorry. I'm just, curious.” He hedged. 

“Yeah. Sorry, I can be blunt sometimes. After talking to Barry today I've been thinking. And if I'm being honest than I've thought about it before today too. I like you, Oliver.” She breathed out and Oliver froze. 

“Yeah?” He asked, his voice soft, disbelieving. 

“Yeah. I like you. And I was thinking that maybe instead of being awkward and avoiding it all summer, maybe we can try this out? If you want to, I mean? Maybe we can see if we can have some fun spending the summer together?” 

She paused after her offer, convinced her could hear how hard her heart was beating. If Barry was wrong and he didn't like her then this would get awkward, and fast. Oliver seemed surprised more than anything else. He stood stock still in front of her, blinking but unresponsive. 

Finally after the longest 90 seconds of her life, Oliver groaned, putting his palm to his forehead. Felicity started to worry, but then he laughed. 

“Dammit. I really didn't want to like that kid.” He said, still laughing. 

She wasn't entirely sure of his meaning, but a few seconds later she stopped caring as Oliver closed in the space between them, and as his lips lowered onto hers she forgot what she was thinking about all together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We will explore the other characters and Olicity more in the next chapter. 
> 
> I will be out of town and away from my computer for the next 8-9 days. So I may post chapter 13 next Sunday, or I may have to skip a week. Depends on how much my vacation destroys me as a person. 
> 
> As always, please let me know what you think!!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews give me life.
> 
> If you ever want to know what inspires this story and my others, want snippets of the chapters mid week, or just want to see all the Arrow stuff I reblog then please check out my tumblr. rileyscottwrites


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